Austin Parks facilities for wedding?

laleighmoore

Has anyone planned or know of someone who has planned a wedding at one of the Austin Parks facilties? Fiesta Gardens, Zilker Clubhouse etc....I have been told they cannot give me an estimate on how difficult it is to land a date using their "lottery" system. I have checked around 50-70 venues in the Austin area and have not found ONE that we could afford for our wedding except these facilities. Problem is we have to plan our wedding around my fiance's mothers fall break in TN which is the week of Oct 9-17, 2010. With about 90% of our guests coming from out of town we need a Saturday date falling that week. How hard is it to get a date at one of the Austin PARD facilities? Since they make you wait until 7 months before the date to enter the early lottery drawing, we cannot afford to wait if it isn't likely that we could get one of these two Saturdays. Any suggestions??

reddie36

My FI and his friends used to get the Zilker Clubhouse every year for a NYE party without any issues - BUT it's partially because about 25 of his friends all went in on the raffle for the day so there was very little chance anyone elses name would be drawn. I would get as many folks as you can to go in on the date you want and not put any alternate dates down then that should ensure you will get it. October is a busy month for weddings, so the more people you have gping in on it the better. We almost went with Fiesta Gardens - it would be perfect for a wedding!! For me, waiting till 7 months out to start solidifying vendor contracts 'just in case' was not an option - but if you are more flexible on that, I don't think you will have an issue. Just to ask - did you look at the Phillips Event Center? I was having the same issue as you and found it to be very reasonable in contrast to many other places we looked at...Good luck!

henderstraus

A lot of people have mentioned that they get friends to enter the lottery as well to up their chances of getting the date. It seems to work out well for people. However, I know that October is one of the most popular months to get married in Austin, so there may be a little more difficulty. Are you open to Fridays and Sundays as well? That could also increase your chances.

laleighmoore

Only problem with Friday or Saturday is that it would cut out a lot of very close family members for me that will be traveling from houston. They would either have to leave work early friday or cut out on the reception sunday to make it home. We have very few friends coming to the wedding and only about 20 people from the austin area. I'd like to check into the Phillips Event Center since I haven't heard of that one yet but for some reason its blocked as porn on this server????? Odd..... As for friends entering the lottery - do they use the same name? If not how the heck does that work? You would think they would catch that!

Mrs.Purdue

i've always heard that you can enter as many times as you want.  doesn't even have to be friends.  but i think each 'entry' has to be in an envelope by itself and mailed with it's own stamp, so it might get pricey, but flood their mailbox!

reddie36

Everyone used to just enter with their own name. You don't pay until they call you when they draw your name. I dunno if you canjust enter a bunch of times for yourself or not - if you could I doubt all the guys would have done it the way the did but you could call and ask. they are real nice. That is funny about the PEC website!! If you need any info on them lemme know.

Jem10

I am having my reception at PEC, let me know if you have any questions. I loved the feel of the ballroom and the people are very friendly and helpful. Jess