The Oaks Events Center

Terrible staff! I have been a professional working musician for 20 years. I played for a wedding at this venue last night and in those 20 years i have never been treated with less respect as i was last night by ANY venue’s staff. I play the drums and we were told not to bring my own drums because the venue provided them. That is normally a good thing. No matter what, i always bring my own cymbals and snare drum (every drummer i know does the same thing). I arrive to the venue to find a set of drums that is completely isolated behind not only a foam wall but also a drum shield, which is a set of giant plexiglass panels. That is still fine and good IF there is a sound system with moniters so i can hear the other musicians AND if the drums are running through the sound system so everyone can hear the drums because those shields REALLY block the sound… so all of that is necessary to make that work. We were told that we couldn’t use the sound system that they had ALREADY THERE AND IN PLACE simply because the clients didn’t pay extra for the guy that runs sound there. So, with all of that, there would be absolutely NO WAY that I would have been able to hear any of the other musicians or for them to hear me. The ONLY option I had was to remove the sound shield. My manager and I carefully removed and folded up the sound shield and planned obviously to replace it once the night’s music was over. The venues main «lady», and I use that word VERY generously, literally FREAKS OUT when she sees what we’ve done and starts yelling at us. We calmly try to explain that it is absolutely necessary under the circumstances but she is unwilling to listen and instead belittles us and says that she is going to call the main guy at the venue which is her husband… poor guy… She comes back a few minutes later and says that he’s fine with it, so ok… the show can go on… whew! Ok, so we’re back on track… Good deal. I continue with my setup and remove the cymbals that were on the set (they are terrible, super cheap which is fine… drummers always use their own anyway) The reason I’m bringing up how cheap they are is only for the next part coming up. After I’m completely set up, i keep getting these really uncomfortable stares from other people at the venue. Finally, another woman comes up to me demanding to know where the cymbals were that were on the drum set. I told her that i was using my own and had placed their cymbals to the side. She wasn’t happy with that until she physically saw them with her own eyes. OBVIOUSLY, they were worried that i was going to steal them. First of all, I’m not a thief! Second of all, my hand hammered hi hat cymbals from Turkey alone are worth more than the ENTIRETY of ALL of their cymbals. I have never been treated so poorly and with a complete lack of respect as i was at this venue last night. I have never considered walking away from a job like i was considering it last night. If one more thing like this would have had happened, i was thinking of walking away and let THEM explain to the bride why the band had no drummer. I will not be returning to this place. Do not use this venue, especially when there are so many other beautiful ones in town, that know what they are doing and are professionals. This one is clueless in every respect.

The Oaks Events Center is nothing short of spectacular, from the staff to the grounds to the catering to the service.
My husband and I got married at The Oaks Events Center in mid-​May of this year. This place far exceeded our expectations. It was by far the most beautiful venue of all that we visited prior to our wedding.
Throughout the planning process, we worked primarily with Lonnie Reeder, who is responsible for events, and Michelle Moreno, the on-​site wedding coordinator. They made sure everything was perfect for us and even confirmed all the details leading up to the event. We really appreciated their attention to detail and their timeline for making sure everything goes as planned.
One of the many wonderful things about this venue is that they allow you to set up the Friday prior to your wedding day. You are not stuck setting up the day of your event. This is rare, as we visited many wedding venues that would only give us the morning of the event to set up.
On our wedding day, we were able to just relax and take everything in. Because I (the bride) wasn’t worrying about anything (I knew everything was very well taken care of), I was really able to enjoy the day, start to finish. Normally, I stress about absolutely everything. For once, I felt relaxed.
Our ceremony was beautiful. The Oaks Events Center has a massive live oak with several oak trees around it to add to the scenery.
Our guests told us that ours was one of the most beautiful weddings they had been to. They raved about the food. I cannot personally remember a time I had better food. We had the Prime Rib and Rosemary Chicken Dinner as our meal and it was the best you will ever have, hands down. The in-​house caterer is definitely the way to go.
After dinner, we danced the rest of the night (minus cake cutting and tosses). Our dance floor was huge (you can have as open or as closed a space for the dance floor as you want). The staff will set up the tables however you like.
My husband and I could not think of anything that we wished would have gone differently. Both of us thought for sure something wouldn’t go quite as planned (that is usually the norm), but were pleasantly surprised when everything truly did go the way we had hoped, even better.
I could continue to write the most wonderful things about The Oaks Events Center, but I don’t know that I would ever stop. Let me just say that if you want to have the most memorable day of your life, you need not look further.

I emailed this week to see if they have restrictions on who can host a celebration at their venue. Almost every place my same-​sex partner and I have asked have replied back with statements of inclusivity and affirmation for all types of couples.
Well, NOT this place. Unless you plan to meet the «couple» requirements (and agree with discrimination), then don’t bother with this place.
You will need to be in a heterosexual relationship, be legally allowed to get a marriage license in Texas, and probably eat at Chick-​fil-​a. (Just kidding about the last part… I think).
Anyways, just thought I should share. No matter what your views are on same-​sex marriage, it’s crazy to me that this is a reality. I bet if they were around when my grandparents got married (darker-​skinned and fair-​skinned couple), they would have banned them too.
Anyways, 1 star for discrimination and lack of recognition of what love and equality really mean. Wish I could give «- «stars.

*Important note: My initial venue had to shut down 5 weeks before our wedding (a wedding nightmare in and of itself), so we booked The Oaks 5 weeks before the wedding.*
PROS: I had my wedding here last weekend, and the ceremony and reception were beautiful. The facilities were wonderful and everyone loved it. My photographer and videographer talked about how beautiful everything was going to turn out, and how the venue was perfect for them. The reception area is very spacious, and we had an awesome time celebrating our marriage! We had outside catering from Carino’s and the Oaks has a full service kitchen, so Carino’s brought in one of their cooks and had everything hot and fresh right when we opened the buffet line. It was DELICIOUS! You are allowed to bring in alcohol but there is a mandatory charge for the bar set up that’s a little bit pricy.
Please note that everything I am about to say could have very well been a one-​time experience that happened because I booked the venue last minute. I know this venue meant well and nothing was done in malice or bad taste. However, as a bride, I would want to know these things.
CONS: The staff micromanaged EVERYTHING! From very forcefully telling me it was a bad idea to have a good friend make our cakes and using the linens from my old venue to being unhappy that our caterer was bringing in Styrofoam plates for easy clean up. The week of the wedding they were contacting me with so many trivial and superfluous issues or concerns that when my Mom got in town she had to take my phone away from me and give it to my sister/​MOH because it was stressing me out so much. They even told me that I needed to hire a clean-​up crew because they were convinced that all my family and friends were going to bail and go to 6^th street without clearing everything out (which did not happen at all). They even forced my hand and made me hire extra wait staff (money I did NOT have) because they would not allow dirty plates to be on the table after dinner. It was absolutely ridiculous.
I wanted my wedding to be a relaxed celebration, not a stiff performance where every tiny detail had to be perfect. It would have been so much better if the venue managers didn’t try to act like my wedding planner. It probably had to do with the fact that I had already finalized so many details, and they were warning me against so much silly stuff that we had already taken care of.
I’m sure there are brides who would love someone to be so thorough, but I just felt very pressured. Again, my circumstance was probably very different because I did book the venue last minute. I do believe they meant well, but for someone like me, it was definitely not my cup of tea to be micromanaged by the venue manager. In my mind, those details should have been left to me and my wedding coordinator (they even criticized her for the time of day she showed up for the wedding). The job of a venue manager is to unlock the doors and make sure we don’t break anything or breach contract. Everything else is simply none of their business. I hope this isn’t read too harshly; it’s only meant to be informative.

Amazing place to have a wedding! Everyone was super nice, and the facilities were outstanding.

I attended one of my Bridesmaid’s weddings at the Oaks a few weekends ago. The place was very clean, the staff was incredible. The bar staff was excellent. The wedding took place outside with lovely old oak trees as background. It felt like being a part of Texas history. They are a new venue from what I understand, but they are already working kinks out. Ie there was no paved path for folks to walk to ceremony site, but they had some golf carts in action to save the heel wears. I checked out some of the behind the scene rooms since I had child care with an infant and it seems like a place that can hold a variety of different things other than weddings. Highly recommend checking this new event center out! Fancy Country style in south Austin.