Texas Federation Of Women’s Clubs Mansion

Can’t say enough good things about Mari and the Fed. We walked through the place at least four or five times before our wedding date, and Mari was always prompt in returning our emails and accommodating with scheduling.
We needed a space that could fit 250+ people comfortably, and there’s a surprising lack of venues in downtown/​central Austin that can accommodate that number and also allow you to bring in your own vendors. An added bonus, the Fed is run by a nonprofit– you can feel good about where your money is going (and the tax-​free charges are pretty nice, too).
The front rooms and ballroom are gorgeous and full of character, fun for out-​of-​town visitors. Yes, parking in the immediate area is a little tight, but there’s a garage less than two blocks away that’s included when you book the venue. They also have their own tables and chairs available for rental. While you CAN bring in your own, the Fed will set up their tables and chairs ahead of time, saving you valuable time and manpower on the day-​of.
We loved being so close to our church (St. Austin) and campus, and the proximity to downtown made continuing the festivities super easy. Beautiful venue, would definitely do it all over again!

Saturday, 9:45 PM.
Quickie:
+ Organized
+ Clean
+ Fun staff
And then???
We stopped for the Austin Lindy Exchange. The ballroom (and living room) were nice places to dance. Great job keeping this mansion in tip-​top shape!

Absolutely beautiful venue for a wedding! The ballroom is magical and HUGE, the courtyard is intimate and picturesque, and the front parlors are perfect for cocktail hour. It was a great one stop shop for our whole wedding day, and the icing on the cake is the fact that you get to pick all your own vendors and are able to save a ton of money on alcohol since it’s byob, so you just need bartenders :)
Mari was our venue coordinator, and she was always quick to respond, allowed me to come see the venue numerous times between booking and the big day, and coordinated the chair and table rentals (even after I realized I had just missed the date I was supposed to order by), basically, Mari was wonderful! The only thing I wish was allowed, was if we could have left some of the bigger props until the next morning to pick up, but everything had to be out by the end time of your reserved hours (this is probably because they host so many weddings though, and often have one the next day, so it totally makes sense). Overall, it was a dream venue right in the heart of Austin!

The Mansion was a perfect place to host our August wedding. There was a lovely courtyard in the shade for the ceremony, and the gorgeous air-​conditioned ballroom was perfect for the reception. Furthermore, because it is in the heart of the city, friends could stay at nearby hotels and take taxis instead of driving. Mari was a breeze to work with — she responded to all emails within hours, answered my many questions, and met with me several times at the venue. If you want an easy, gorgeous place to have a wedding, you can’t go wrong with the Mansion.

Attended a wedding here over the weekend. The venue is to die for! It’s absolutely beautiful inside! I loved the courtyard for the ceremony! The only weird thing was there was no real place for the wedding party to get ready. No grooms suite.

The Mansion was the first and only place that we looked at when finding a space for our wedding– it was love at first sight! The venue is absolutely beautiful, and hardly needed any extra decorations. The rooms are all full of old pictures and artifacts, which create a very classic, timeless, and cheerful feel.
We had both our ceremony and reception in the large blue ballroom (we flipped the venue during cocktail hour) and it accommodated all 270 of our guests. It was a little crowded at times due to the fact that we put a dance floor in the middle, but we didn’t want to give that space up! While the flip was happening, we had cocktail hour in the outer rooms, including the small yellow ballroom. The rooms had comfortable arm chairs for those that wanted to sit down, and we were able to use the room upstairs for those that wanted to get away and have a quiet moment.
Working with Mari (their events coordinator) was absolutely wonderful. I came in several times to show the venue space to my family and to vendors, and she was very accommodating. She was also very patient with the millions of questions that I had over the planning process, and responded quickly to my emails.
Not only was it the most beautiful place we found, but it was also the most economical. As it’s a non-​profit the prices were very reasonable, and they let us bring in our own vendors for food, alcohol, cake, etc. You can either rent tables and chairs from them or bring in your own rentals. For parking, they have a small lot right behind the venue for vendors and wedding party in addition to a free parking garage a block away for your guests.

We had our wedding here in May of 2013 and it was a great experience. Being the guy I was very price-​conscious and this venue gave us the best price and the most hours for our rental (8 hrs vs 4 elsewhere). We also had the flexibility to hire our own vendors which saved us a ton of money and it didn’t lock us into the services of one caterer. This place has a ton of history and I loved that my money went to the upkeep of this nonprofit building. The staff was also very helpful and personable.

We showed up for our scheduled apt to see this wedding venue. We arrived and sat down at a sofa with a coffee table that had lovely photo albums of previous weddings that had been held there. We were passed by a mother and daughter being showed the place. Not a word was said to us. not even a «we’ll be right with you» or «we’ll be with you in just a minute» nothing. hmm. odd.
SO we waited…
and waited…
and waited some more…
45 minutes later we decided to take a look around ourselves. Hell, we had been there for almost and hour since we were about 10 minutes early for our 1:45 appointment. We finally ran into someone who was helping the previous party, and she tried to lie and say she went up to the front to look for us, and when we explained where we were sitting waiting for her, she said oh well «I didn’t go up that far». so. how far up did you go if you didn’t make it to the sofa/​coffee table?
I felt disrespected and decided If this is how it starts out before dollars have even been exchanged its better just to find somewhere else to celebrate the happiest day of our lives.

I’m so glad we picked this venue for our wedding — it really was everything we wanted.
–The venue is lovely and historic and so full of character. That meant that we spent a minimum of time and energy on decorating, since the space was already so beautiful. We literally threw a flower arrangement on the front table and put some candles on the dinner table and called it good. We really wanted a venue with a lot of character that didn’t feel like a sterile hotel ballroom, and this fit the bill perfectly.
–There’s a ton of space. The mansion is huge, with lots of differentiated spaces, and we wound up using all of them. We had the ceremony in the courtyard (you can seat 175 guests in the courtyard and we maxed it out). We really wanted an outdoor wedding, and it was such a pretty space for it. Plus, there was very little traffic noise. Then we had a cocktail hour in the front parlors (guests also used the parlors later in the night to retreat for quiet conversations), we used the huge ballroom for dinner and dancing, and we used the side gallery as a kid’s room. The bar and photo booth went in the long hallway. The little upstairs sitting room was the perfect spot for my groom and I to retreat for a few minutes right after the ceremony.
–Mari was great to work with. She was always super fast and responsive with any emails or questions we had, and very sweet. She also accomodated a couple of last minute drop-​ins when our vendors or family wanted to swing by.
–The mansion was actually cheaper than other similar venues that we looked at (Mercury Hall, Allen House, etc). Plus, as a non-​profit, you know the money is going to a good cause.
–You can bring in your own vendors. This was important to us, since venues can really gauge you on catering costs. You can also bring in your own furniture, linens, etc, though they do have furniture available for rent.
–The venue includes free parking at a garage a block away, so your guests don’t have to try to find parking in West Campus on a weekend night.
The one con was that it gets booked up fairly fast. We started looking in September for a June wedding, and at that point all the Saturdays were already booked. We wound up taking a Friday and it worked out great.
We have two friends who will be getting married at the Mansion in the next few months, and I’m looking forward to enjoying a wedding there as a guest as well as a bride.

This venue is really cool if you’re into old buildings. This venue is by UT so you know the parking really sucks. Last time I came here it was pretty warm inside; I hope they fixed that. The ballroom itself is very large and I’ve been to some really classy, beautiful weddings here.

The Mansion was a beautiful and perfect indoor venue for our July wedding hosting 200+ people. The ballroom had enough room for a buffet setup, DJ, cake tables and seating for all of our guest. In addition there was plenty of space for dancing! The front rooms of the mansion served as great space for a cocktail hour. We highly recommend renting the entire Mansion for larger weddings. We really liked that the Mansion allowed us to hand select our own vendors. Our only complaint is that the air conditioning had not been turned on in the front of the Mansion until right before our event. However, the ballroom was cool and comfortable. We recommend the Mansion for any event!

I can not say enough wonderful things about this place. We are getting married her ein two months, and it has been such an easy process. The prices are beyond reasonable, you barely have to put any money in decorations because the place is so beautiful. We have been dealing with the same manager (Mari) the entire time, and she has been SO helpful, and accommodating. The place is a non profit, so the money you spend here gets put back into the building, and the places they contribute to. It is huge if you have a lot of people coming to your wedding, but also has smaller rooms if intimate is more your style. SO SO SO SO SO SO SO worth every penny!

This place is incredible! My husband and I had our wedding reception here on Saturday November 26, 2011. The ballroom is beautiful and I knew I wanted have our reception here the second I walked in last November (2010). Its a old historic building, which I loved. You can bring in your own vendors which is so awesome and will save you money in the long run. There is a huge stage for a DJ, which is perfect so they don’t take up your floor space. FYI… We had a photo booth, DJ, buffet setup, cake table, 20 tables, 200 guests and we still had plenty of space to walk around and dance. It’s a large yet so unique space.
Mari, our representative at the TFWC, was always very helpful and communicative through email, which I appreciated.
As mentioned in earlier posts, yes, they are particular on the exact times to be in and out but that wasn’t a big deal for us at all. 8 rental hours was plenty!
You can rent furniture from them (all tables and up to 150 chairs) which is very helpful but in my case we had to rent extra chairs from a rental company because we had 200 guests. That was kind of frustrating but not a big deal. And no, you don’t have to rent linens from them. I used Marquee rents for mine (review on them to come soon!)
I could not have picked a better place for the most wonderful day of my life, thus far! :)

I almost had my wedding here. The ballroom is GORGEOUS. The rest of the place is a tiny bit weird. I remember there being dolls and blue carpet… but let’s focus on the ballroom. A stage for a band to play, huge windows, and you can bring in your own vendors (awesome).
They had a few hitches that were a little bit of a pain — you have to use their linens and I believe something about no kegs at all. They also were pretty precise about timing. You can be there at an exact time and must be out at an exact time.
Ultimately, the reason I didn’t choose this venue is there was the time constraints and I felt the pricing was just a little bit too high. As I recall, midnight you gotta be out of there. With my friends and family, I needed an all-​night venue.
All in all, this place is absolutely worth checking out and I can’t wait to go to a wedding there! The location is fantastic and again, the ballroom would be such a stunning place to get married. The windows in the background — I can only imagine beautiful pictures would be taken!

I chose this place about 2 weeks ago for our wedding next May (2012). I started tearing up in the Mansion when we took the tour. It’s far more stunning than the photos — they just don’t do this historical Mansion justice. Every room has such character that I had to rent the entire place — which is affordable. There was hardly a price jump between the Ballroom and the entire Mansion. Everything is absolutely gorgeous in this place and I can hardly wait to get married now (I thought planning without a consultant would be difficult but so far I’ve been having the time of my life!). We had a wonderful lady helping us (Mari — I hope I spelled her name correctly) and she was fabulous to be the person to give us the tour and explain the history behind the place. She even sent us with a packet of vendors that have worked there before that she recommended and then wrote down a few extra to help us out — of course, you don’t have to use someone from their list but I asked if she had any suggestions since I had no idea how to go about finding vendors other than google searches. She printed me a list and then she went through the list with me and starred and wrote in places that she really liked. The whole experience was wonderful and we haven’t even had the wedding yet! Wonderful place!!!

In choosing a wedding venue, my husband & I must have visited 14 of them! One step inside The Mansion, and we knew this was the perfect place for us. It is rather unassuming outside with the exception of the tall white columns out front, but the inside is beautiful. Mari was such a delight to work with as well. She answered all of our questions timely and when it was the big day, she was out of sight except when we needed to ask her questions. The other great thing about this venue is that they let you bring in all of your own vendors. We elected to rent the entire venue, so we had plenty of space for separate dressing areas for the ladies & gentlemen in the bridal party. There were also so many great photo opportunities. It has an old world elegant feel and I’d highly recommend taking a tour before deciding on a venue.

I know there are lots of places to have your wedding reception in Austin, but we had our wedding reception at the Mansion a few weeks ago, and there is no other place we would have rather had it. Phenomenal building, largest wood floor in Austin, tall, tall ceiling in the great room, great staff (thanks Mari!), tons of room for 150 guests, a DJ and photo booth with room to spare. You won’t find a better place!

The Fed for Swing Dancing is where it’s at. I’m kinda hesitant to even write this review because more people will find out about this wonderful gem. but i suppose the reason it is so great is that so many people go.
Every thursday night about 150 people of all ages gather to dance the night away! A free beginner class starts at 815 and then at 9 is the open dance… Only 5 dollars for non members! Its a great thing to do on a week night! I’ve been going every thursday for the past two years. cant get enough of it! Put on your dancin’ shoes!

I went to the Texas Federation of Women’s Club last night for the first time. I casually said to my husband, «We should have gotten married here!» He informed me that we had actually considered it, but it had fallen out of the running when we learned that you have to rent their tables and chairs, which increase the price by a lot.
I was there for a weekly dance of the Austin Swing Syndicate. They picked the perfect locale for their weekly shindig. The mansion is exquisitely decked out in 1940s styling. The bathroom really has «powder room» on the door, and multiple chambers to maintain feminine secrecy. They have those old school globe soap dispensers, and the waiting room has a rose colored loveseat that would be perfect for swooning. The main ballroom has a lovely slick wood floor and baby blue walls, lit well but not harshly by dozens of chandelier sconces. Gorgeous! We also had access to tons of other rooms that also had similar antique furniture. The rooms were all large and comfortable.
If you’re into this kind of architecture or design style, I’d pay the $ 5 on a Thursday night and go poke around. Then, swing dance the night away until Midnight. It was so fun!