I cannot adequately explain how amazing our wedding celebration was at Zilker Park Clubhouse!! I'm holding a star since we received an email saying we got our deposit back Aug 12th and I still haven't seen the funds in my account- but besides that issue it's definitely got a 5 star rating! We actually got married a month prior in MA, but needed to celebrate the occasion with all our friends who live here with us in TX. This event space was perfect for a party on a budget. The view- I mean, come ON, was just incredible, and the backdrop for everyone's photos! People could not stop talking about how phenomenal it was. The process of getting the place was a bit tricky, as I could not navigate their government website to select the date and missed the cut-off time before having to do the lottery. Luckily, not a lot of people were begging for dates in August as the venue does not have air conditioning- so the heat was a bit brutal (but that's Texas!)- but we got it no problem! I ended up calling and the person I spoke to was very helpful. Speaking of air conditioning- or lack-there-of- we ended up renting some swamp coolers (huge cooling fans that run off of ice- but a LOT of ice!!) to help with the heat. There are ceiling fans and a few industrial fans included- but those don't help too much in August! I had a hard time figuring out what exactly we needed- so I'm going to add a quick "plug" for Preferred Climate Solutions our of Hutto, TX. They worked ZPC before and knew how to set things up. Brett even had an extra swamp cooler from an earlier event he let us use. Moving on- because this place doesn't require use of specific vendors- it made it that much affordable. We hired Slab BBQ to cater and Pixster photo booth for fun. For drinks, we filled out the necessary paperwork (some cheap $10ish permit? I can't quite remember) and we're able to just bring in a few kegs and boxes of wine from PartyBarn. Everything went off without a hitch! Good to note- the place provides a bunch of tables. Two huge round ones, a few smaller round and rectangle ones, and some nice cocktail tables we used on the patio. (The cocktail tables and one rectangular were good enough condition to go without tablecloths- the rest require coverings.) For lighting- it was definitely important to us to get string lights on the patio. I realized last minute that getting a few hundred feet of lights was going to be trickier than I initially thought- since I had to consider ones that connected and could manage the power of 300 ft of lights. I used Americanpartylights.com- it worked out great! They included zip ties which is important since it's against the park rules to use tape (holds better anyways.) I found a great diagram of ZPC patio for the light arrangements and measurements (photo included.) It was a perfect celebration and I HIGHLY recommend this space for any event! It has such a cool vibe even without decorations, your set up can be minimal and still look amazing. Plus... that VIEW! read more

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BEAUTIFUL PERFECT location for a wedding! And VERY AFFORDABLE!! Last year I was looking for a nice, but affordable location for our wedding, our wedding would be in January of this year(2020) and we were worried about having bad weather if we did our wedding outside! After being so stressed, I remember finding this location randomly and calling to see if they had any openings in the month of January, luckily they did at the end of the month on the 31st and I looked up photos and reviews and just had to book it right away!!! Easy to find, a lot of parking space, and just beautiful. I felt so blessed to have found this place. My wedding was just so beautiful! read more

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Actual things said to me during my wedding here a couple of weeks ago: "I just texted all my friends telling them they all have to get married here." "I've been coming to Austin for 9 years and have never seen a view like this." "This view of Austin is best seen from here." "Why didn't I know about this place?" To say the least, the view of Austin from Zilker Park Clubhouse is breathtaking. I went to a wedding here last fall and knew immediately it is where I also wanted to get married. Very much in my style, cool and casual, and a great spot to show off my favorite city. It is an old boy scout lodge turned into a party rental space run by the city. Staff is not provided so be prepared to do everything yourself, or do what I did and hire someone to take care of everything for you. The booking is screwy though. I took my friend's advice and just called, because we had missed the 7 month out deadline for the lottery. 6 months ahead, you can just call and ask what dates they have available. Luckily, there was one night in November available. So if you want to get married here, be prepared to plan it quickly, because you can't book more than 6-7 months in advance. The upside is the cost is about 1/4 the price of most wedding venues. read more

Zilker Park Clubhouse - The view of downtown at night (photo by Mark Couvillion) - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Austin, Texas

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Not sure if views like the ones at Zilker Clubhouse are common in Austin, but I have to imagine the scene overlooking Downtown Austin from the courtyard of Zilker Clubhouse is one of the most beautiful visuals in the city. My friend got married at Zilker over the weekend, and I doubt they could have found a more beautiful location to say, "I do." Or, "sure... why not?" Or, "fuck, I guess so...." Those are all suitable options for confirming a wedding vow, yeah? If you're planning a special event--perhaps a wedding or anniversary--I strongly recommend you try to get your grubby little paws on this place for the evening. From what I understand, it's such a popular destination, you need to enter a lottery just to be granted permission to use it. Act quick, but try not to book the spot in November. It was windy as a mother fucker in that piece! Seriously, I think I saw Ross Perot get blown across Town Lake during the strongest part of the wind storm. read more

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What a fantastic place! I just went to a birthday party here last night and was just stunned at the great views of the City and the perfection of the facilities for a party. It can accommodate about 150 people comfortably and has a kitchen, parking for 100 cars and a huge deck overlooking the skyline of Austin. Its also easy to get to. The building is old, with limestone and timber construction - very rustic and homey. Not fancy, just grand. The only drawback I could see was the weirdness you have to go through to book this place. I tried to get info on the web and they don't tell you the price. They do describe the fancy footwork you must go through to get into the "lottery" to reserve the place: (from the parks website) "How to Reserve: Because of the popularity of the facilities, requests for reservation are first accepted in writing seven (7) months prior to the requested date. These requests will then be submitted into a "lottery" and a "blind drawing" will take place to selected the tentative reservations. (i.e. the "blind draw" will be completed in August for March dates.) Letter must include your name, address and phone numbers, requested location(s) of reservation, number of guests expected, three (3) dates in the month you request a reservation in order of preference, if you plan on serving or selling alcohol. Letters must be received between the 1st and 20th of the month. Mail or deliver your letter between the 1st and the 20th of each month seven (7) months prior to the month requested. Letters postmarked or received before or after the dates listed will NOT be included in the draw." So -- I guess letters received on the 21st of the month will be tossed. What is UP with that?? read more

Looking back on my wedding photos, I'm extremely happy we got to have this space for our reception. It was a really cold day, which definitely helped, but the rustic nature of the building shines in our photos. read more

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We got married here last week on September 12, 2015. You cannot beat the patio and the view of the Austin skyline. If you want to get married here, you have to be very DIY because the clubhouse itself is not a wedding venue. It belongs to the city and is just a venue for you to do what you please. Many people may be turned off by this, but I loved the freedom to hire whoever I wanted. We hired Pascal's Catering, and they were above and beyond awesome. I can't rave about them enough. I wrote a separate review about them. The site itself includes the clubhouse, which has a kitchen and male and female restrooms, and the patio. The clubhouse provides a lot of tables and chairs, if you want specific numbers, look on the website. We got married inside the clubhouse, and had the reception on the patio. The total number of guests was about 75, and that is an extremely comfortable number for the venue. It's not the greatest venue for huge weddings due to limited space. The buffet was set up inside the clubhouse after the ceremony ended. A huge warning ... the clubhouse is not air conditioned. Lucky for us the temperature dropped into the 80's on our wedding day, and so we did not have an issue with this. But, people have rented swamp coolers and AC units etc for those hot summer days, I've heard. Booking the clubhouse was a bit of a pain. You can book it first come first serve 6 months in advance. Other than that, there's a lottery system if you want to book 10 months out. We did the first come first serve ordeal. There were a handful of dates in Sept that hadn't been reserved already by the lottery system. So, on the first Monday of each month, you are able to show up at COA office and reserve your venue on a first come first serve basis for the 6th month out. For example, I wanted Sept 12, so I showed up on the first Monday of March 2015 and stood in line to book the date. I believe the office opens at 8 am, and I showed up at 6:30 am to wait in line. Other people had the same idea and came early to wait in line for their dates as well. Luckily for all of us in line, we all wanted different dates :) A couple that showed up after me wanted the same date. They showed up at 8:00 AM when they thought the office was opening, not anticipating that people would show up earlier. They were disappointed. I felt terrible for them, but excited for us! Moral of the story is, if you can, show up early and wait in line if you REALLY want this venue. I didn't have any back ups, and I was wiling to be flexible on the dates as long as I got the venue. The building is very rustic, and we received SO many compliments on the venue and the view of the Austin skyline. The clubhouse is extremely affordable to rent, and you get your deposit back if you don't do any damage. They have extremely detailed information on their website. I cannot recommend this place enough! read more

Zilker Park Clubhouse - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Austin, Texas

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Spectacular, personified! My first experience here was this past Saturday, and it couldn't have been any more perfect for the wedding reception hosted. The best part is clearly the elevated view of downtown, and I can't imagine that were you to try, you could top it from anywhere else. It's a perfect framing of our charming city, and was the ideal scene for the celebratory dance party that cropped up here. It is in a sense a reflection of the best of Austin, casual and stunning, accessible and clever. Apparently you need to book it about seven months out to have any hope of landing the place for your event, but as someone who spent one fine evening here, let me tell you that it's worth it. Unforgettable. read more

I had my October wedding at The Zilker Clubhouse and it was fantastic. Pros: - The view y'all. You can't even believe it. - The price. Compared to other places in Austin - so low! - Customize your event. Some of the bigger places will lock you into certain caterers or florists or photographers. At the Clubhouse you get to plan every detail to your liking! Cons: - Booking is difficult. As I understand it, they just changed their policies shorty after my wedding, so I won't go into details here because I don't want to give you bad information. My advice is to call the city to get the details straight. It can be complicated, but I think it is entirely worth it. - It's an old building, which comes with some problems. For instance, the DJ we booked had worked at this venue before and he knew that sometimes the breakers blow with all of the music and lights. He came prepared. The breaker did blow at some point during our dance party, but it was actually one of the sweetest moments of the night, because all of our friends just kept dancing and singing the song that had been playing while they flipped the breaker back on. It was off for maybe 60 seconds and then smooth sailing :) I loved having my wedding at the clubhouse. It has that perfect Texas backyard party feel to it and it made me feel at home. read more

Went to a wedding reception here Friday. What a gorgeous venue! I didn't even know it existed. Why so amazing? Huge patio, rustic inside perfect for reception and the MOST incredible view of downtown Austin. Sure, it was hot as hell but that's a function of the date (late May) rather than the venue. This could be a great place for just about anything -- an outside party, a wedding, a fam reunion, a dance -- really versatile. It was gorgeous to watch the sun set outside, cool breeze blowing, dance floor hoppin', enjoying a cold glass of sangria and just being really happy about living in Austin, TX. read more

We had our wedding at Zilker Clubhouse on June 18, 2011. It was wonderful! Even though it was 105 degrees, it was cool inside the non-airconditioned clubhouse. There was always a nice breeze outside since it situated above downtown. We had our ceremony inside, reception outside...what a blast! Don't give up on your date if you don't win the lottery...we wanted to get married 6 months after our engagement, so we thought there was no way to get the clubhouse. Just call them up and if they have an opening or cancellation after the lottery is completed, it's yours! read more

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The best view in the city. hands down. This is a great venue for those perfect fall evenings. Enjoying drinks with a view of the Austin skyline and watching the sun go down is hard to beat. The event I attended had catered food, and a good amount of people but the patio and clubhouse seemed spacious. The clubhouse was not air conditioned, but the Austin weather was working in our favor. It's secret spots like this that remind me why I love Austin so much. read more

Two words: the view. Oh my gosh, the view. The building itself is older, and while I find it charming, I don't think it has central heat or A/C. Pick a pleasant evening in the cooler months and you'll be fine. There's even a kitchen on site for caterers to work out of. And did I mention the view? There's a huge patio outside to go drool all over it. The name seems like a bit of a misnomer. It's not in what most people think of as Zilker Park, but rather on the other side of MoPac--still in Zilker Park, just not the side that hosts Blues on the Green and the like. It's up a path I could best describe as a tarmac rally stage, but close enough to civilization that I didn't think I was going to whack into a deer. And yes, the view is totally worth the trip up the slightly widened cow-path to get up here. Dude. The view. read more

I love the Zilker Clubhouse. But it's pretty tricky to have a wedding there. After doing some research, you have to enter into a lottery to have a wedding on a particular date. For me (and most people), having your venue up in the air - just too much stress involved. Here you can read about the reservation policy: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/parks/rentalpolicies.htm Reservations are made by utilizing one of two reservation opportunities, which are dependent upon how early you are attempting to make a reservation. The two methods are: Early Reservation Lottery Process ONLY available in the 7th month in advance of your desired date. First-come First-served Reservations beginning 6 months in advance of the desired date (after completion of the lottery) read more

Dang! Views of downtown Austin from this city-run clubhouse are magical at sunset. This is a place that can be rented for weddings, photo shoots, alumni parties, etc. It's a bit ragged in places (uh, paint and a bit of carpentry work would do wonders) but its location makes up for the dirt in the corners, I guess. read more

Zilker Park Clubhouse - View from clubhouse patio - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Austin, Texas

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Wowzers, this place seriously has the best nighttime downtown view of Austin, TX that I have ever witnessed. Located down a stretch of road on the West side of Mopac across from Zilker Park you fill find this cobblestone building with the expansive patio. The patio overlooks the water which has the downtown skyline on the other side. The interior is one long stretch with solid flooring and an amazing fireplace. Since there is no air conditioning I would plan an event here in the cooler months, or at least at night. My inaugural visit was for a private party hosted by a couple of local breweries who had tables set up on the patio for tastings. The inside was perfect for dancing as there was a live band. The #1 use for Zilker Park Clubhouse seems to be for weddings and receptions (fantastic photo ops here for sure) but in order to do so you have to wait months in advance and get on a lottery type waiting list. I believe that this building is owned by the city. I'm not sure how they book it for private parties but it would be worth its weight in gold. read more

Zilker Park Clubhouse personifies Austin. It is not pretentious and can pretty much be just what you want it to be. For us, it was the site of our daughter's wedding and reception, and it certainly fit the bill. You can host your event inside or outside, or both, as we did. We had the wedding inside because you never know about November weather, but the large patio outside was the perfect reception site and had abundant room for dancing and enjoying the amazing view of Austin at night. I would have given it a 5 if there had been a room for the bride to get ready and the wedding party to congregate prior to the wedding. read more

Zilker Clubhouse is a funky Austin treasure. I have been to two weddings there - including my own. Mine was in the summer. I am a summer kind of person, and I liked that one better. The only problem was that it was VERY hot. We hosed down the concrete patio ahead of time to cool it a bit. The cake was m-e-l-t-i-n-g. And it was a bit windy - being up high and all - not too bad though. The wedding went into the evening and it is lovely on the patio overlooking the city lights. A small band (ours was acoustic) can provide music for dancing under the stars on the concrete dance floor. The winter wedding seemed a little crowded - if you can't use the outdoors patio depends on the weather.. but it is a cozy space. We danced inside as well - but with recorded music. I love this space for a small - natural style - Austin wedding. read more

I had my wedding here a week ago, and it couldn't have been anymore amazing. I took off one star only because the customer service person was not helpful, and had an awful attitude. The best part is the large patio overlooking downtown Austin. For 7 hours it was a total of 1050, but cheaper if you receive your 300 deposit back. $50 for each additional hour. You're able to rent it from 10AM-Midnight. If you don't plan on selling alcohol at your party then you don't need to worry about having a certified bartender. We just put out bottles of wine, and everyone was happy. :) I don't have any regrets! read more

Zilker Park Clubhouse - Beautiful view of Austin on the patio area. We rented the white chairs. - Venues & Event Spaces Near Me - Austin, Texas

Austin Rowing Club (ARC) have their Annual Membership Meeting at the Zilker Park Clubhouse. There's a paid dinner which the proceeds go to the ARC Junior Rowing Program. The view is amazing. I saw the Austin skyline, the river and Zilker Park where they were setting up the tents and stages for ACL. Even though there is no A/C inside, the breeze helped a lot. During the meeting outside, I just looked at the view and wished that I had a photo of it. Once the gathering was over, the parking lot could use a little bit more light. I almost couldn't find my car. Seriously this is the best place for any special event and I hope people get an opportunity to visit this hideaway. Hideaway seems to be an appropriate term for this place. read more

You have heard of all the rave reviews, so I do not need to bore you. It is an awesome place. But folks, please keep in mind the summer months in Austin. We recently had a family event here. Many of our elderly guests needed to be taken away! The heat was unbearable, even into into the night. The sun was relentless. read more

I was very lucky and was able to book this venue a couple months before my wedding. The space was beautiful for our wedding on an evening in April. It is also very affordable. As many others have mentioned, it is extremely DIY. I would suggest hiring someone to do the set up and tear down/clean up. I would have given a higher rating, but I have yet to receive my deposit refund, despite multiple calls to the special events office. There was a clerical error that has resulted in the delay. It has been six months since my event, and every time I call I am told that someone will call me back. Super frustrating! read more

Was in a wedding here. It was hot as heck in June at 5pm, but the view was great! I'd push anything back to 7 or so in the summer if you can, and then it would be flawless! The view is just amazing. read more

Love this place! Been here numorous times for parties, weddings, etc. Don't know how much it is but for the best view in Austin come here!

This place has a really good view of the Austin skyline, which is why I was there. The facilities looked adequate if you wanted to book a party and it's not too far off the beaten path. Plenty of parking, the building was clean. Next time I'd like to go at night to see the skyline lit up. read more

Great venue. Had my happiest moments there. Check out the video of the view of the city. http://youtu.be/9vRojAEWNr0

This wedding venue definitely has the vibe of Austin. Killer view, inexpensive fees and simply perfect for celebrating your big day. To book this venue you will have to submit your request (in writing) and be at the mercy of a "lottery" drawing. More and more people are finding about the Zilker Park Clubhouse so make sure you get your request in as soon as possible. Great choice for an Austin wedding venue. read more

We recently had our wedding at Zilker Park Clubhouse on 14 Jan 2017 and it was phenomenal! The venue is fantastic and you just can't ask for a better view of Austin city skyline. Even with the cooler weather it was absolutely perfect. The venue was open earlier than expected and everything was in top shape (new heaters, electricity turned on, clean grounds, etc.). It is a completely DIY venue with the exception of the tables and chairs provided (and stored in the clubhouse). However, that's not a bad thing as you have the liberty to have everything the way you want it!!! We used a day of wedding planner (thanks, Lauren Adams!) which I suggest having to keep the day organized and moving along as scheduled with any vendors you hire as well as clean up done on time (by midnight). We highly recommend using this venue to anyone as long as you are prepared to put in some hard work for the results you want :) read more

I remember having camp outs here when I was in girl scouts 40 years ago and it was awesome! Good place to relax for a weekend! :)

I was part of a wedding during the early fall of 2012 and it was so beautiful. If you are lucky enough to book this venue, you will not be disappointed. It has one of the best views of Austin hands down. read more