Wedding Venues in Austin, Texas

My oldest daughter is getting married! And, as she pointed out, we needed to pick a venue, and soon!

Where the wedding and reception takes place may be the most important decision a bride to be can make. Well, other than who she decides to marry, of course.

I mean, it's hard to send out invitations without letting the invitees know where to show up.

Here's what I learned about venues:

Some places provide food and beverages, some don’t . Others include items like tables, chairs and linens - some don't. Some places you have to set up and clean up yourself. Some charge extra for chair covers - but I don't like chair covers. It reminds me of how furniture is covered when the house is closed up, or haunted, or both. Okay, this isn't about me.Or haunted houses. It's about my daughter and her wedding. But oddly enough, the chair cover issue is one thing we agree on, even though my mother and my sister in law love chair covers (although my sister in law always has an urge to untie the bows!).

And I also learned that we should have planned for this at her birth apparently, since the “average” wedding costs $28,000 these days.

Well, we’re about to put in a much lower number to pull that average down.

So, if you’re in the Austin area, planning a wedding and on a budget, you might be able to use the following information. If you’re not, you may find it amusing and maybe helpful in another manner. Or not. In either case, you could always click on one of those adsense links on this page and buy something and help me pay for the wedding! It's just a thought. Never mind.

Loved it. Loved loved loved it. The restored Victorian house itself where the bride gets ready, the path the bride follows to the gazebo where the groom gets his first glimpse of her before the ceremony, the grounds – an amazing place. They were very reasonably priced, willing to work with our budget, and I’d highly recommend them to anyone.

But….it’s a January wedding. And in Austin, Texas, a January wedding might be an outdoor wedding (take that you northern states!) but then again, it might not be. And the remodeled horse barn was not an ideal alternate for an indoor wedding. I’m short, and the ceiling felt way too low for me.

Yes, a rebuilt Austin landmark (that distressing fire a few years ago, but redone and improved!) does weddings! It was okay. To be fair, it was biker weekend, and very hot when we went to look at it so it was really crowded and really hot. I already said that. Because it was really hot.

But the balconies overlooking Lake Travis where the wedding would take place (weather permitting) were very scenic. And the food looked okay. And they’d do all the clean up , etc.

But…I don’t know. Getting married in a restaurant, even an Austin landmark didn’t seem worth it. And then when you add in the other items we’d have to get – the cake, the booze, the dress, etc. – just a little out of our price league - or range. Whichever one is right, it was out of it.

That’s right, we’re not from Texas…but her groom to be is. This is one of the few we dragged him to see – but he’s such a nice guy that he didn’t seem to mind. It’s the best of the stereotypical Texas landscape, nice grounds, Texas style buildings, the kitchens close to the area where food was going to be served.

But…the price was only for the venue. And if they couldn’t have the ceremony in the gazebo, we’d have to have it inside, which we’d have to decorate ourselves (some people know how they want it to look so that’s not a drawback! But for us…it was problematic), as well as get all the vendors ourselves – food, cake, everything but tables and chairs. So, still added stress of choosing so many vendors and decorating!

Very pretty.

But…okay, to be fair, we never actually spoke with someone about it, just wandered in one afternoon and looked around while someone was setting up some event. Or having one. I’m not sure. In any case, the price was only for the venue. Everything else up to us. Everything. And it didn't look like parking was plentiful.

Again, some people are more equipped than us to plan everything around a wedding and reception. I know, some people pay people to do the planning. But as I’ve mentioned before, we’re trying to bring that average cost of wedding way way down.

We don’t belong to any, but we could have weddings and receptions there.

We went to several – all pretty much the same, nice packages,

But…Berry Creek – although very nice and tempting, the windows were too high and it gave a claustrophobic feeling. Great Hills – not quite big enough and needs more of a salesperson (nice, nice man, but no sales pitch and we’re customers who know nothing! And have no questions! We’re so lame, I know, but again, we have no money for a wedding planner!). Avery Ranch – nice enough. Maybe if I’d been a member there… Did we go to more? I have no idea, once you’ve seen a nicely manicured, scenic golf course and accompanying luxurious clubhouse, you’ve seen them all. (Spoken like the bourgeoisie I am I bet!  I mean, written, not spoken, unless as you read this you hear my melodic, yet Kathleen Turnerish voice in your head! If that’s what you’re hearing, it’s not me! )

Not the courthouse that they’re using, we mean the one that they’ve turned into a museum. The price was only for the courthouse, different prices for the different rooms, but very reasonable and an unusual place for a wedding and reception! We like that about it. And if we chose that place, instead of invitations we could do it more like a jury summons, but make it a wedding summons instead.

But…no candles allowed and we’d have to get everything ourselves. Still, harder to cross of f the list because it is inexpensive, unusual and beautiful. If I’d have had anything to do with the legal profession anymore (other than the occasional transcription for my old boss), I’d have jumped at this if it were my wedding. It’s inexpensive, unusual, and beautiful. Oh, I already said that. I mean, wrote that.

At first when we drove in, after getting there via the oddly named Hairy Man Road which is one road my daughter the bride loves to drive - we noticed it was a beautiful spot, but it looked like we were at someone's house. But don't let the mix of homey and yet enchanted atmosphere fool you - the Chateau has a gorgeous gazebo for an outdoor wedding and the inside is pretty too. They had several packages to choose from, which ranged from fairly reasonable especially on the off months to fairly pricey, but they include quite a lot so it probably works out. They even include the cakes!

But...um, it's um...well, we'll let you know.

We also went to the Zilker Park Clubhouse or what not - great great view of the city, and we never got to look inside since we went when no one was there and only looked in the windows.

But...the price only includes the place and the view and EVERYTHING else would be on us.

Can you guess which one we chose or did we keep looking and I'm going to write more hubs about our venue search?

And really, if you've gone through this or going through this feel free to leave advice or comments. Remember, I still have another daughter who will be of age to marry in a few years!

HELP!

Just a postscript to let you know that the wedding took place at Chateau on the Creek and it was amazing! They did everything beautifully and were very helpful! I'd highly recommend this place for your occasion!