Austin, Texas! The capital of this great state has become quite the lively, energetic city in the last few years. With so many events happening here, people are thriving, and it’s easy to understand why you’d want to plan your fraternity formal in Austin.
But putting together any big occasion like a fraternity formal isn’t easy, and this is especially true for college students.
The truth of it is, you’ll need a lot of time to plan everything out, and we always say that a semester is the minimum amount of time you’ll need. Not only that, you’ll need to give yourself specific time to plan your formal weekend, which can be hard to do when you’re living the college student life.
With classes, work, friends, and homework, who has time to add more to their plate?
If you’re feeling stressed out about getting your fraternity’s formal ready to go, then read the blog below to find some useful tips on how to plan your fraternity formal in Austin!
1. Transportation: How will you and your brothers arrive?
In order to have a formal, you all need to get to Austin first, right? So, how are you all going to get there? You’ve got a few options.
Depending on the size of your fraternity and where your university is located, you all could potentially carpool. Then you wouldn’t have to worry about renting buses or anything like that, however, you would need to be mindful of a few other things:
Everyone’s schedule. When can you all leave? Will everyone arrive at the same time?
How much does the hotel you’re going to book charge for overnight parking?
Are there people in your fraternity comfortable driving around a big city like Austin?
If carpooling is out of the question, then your next best bet is to look into a transportation company that can use charter buses and other vehicles to get you safely to Austin.
Make sure the company you’re looking into is trustworthy and reliable, and it would be a good idea to have a rough estimate of who’s going to the formal weekend so the company knows how many buses to set aside for your group.
How much is the company charging? Do they require a down payment, and what kind of contract are they going to have you sign?
To get you started, we’d recommend checking out Austin Prestige Limo.
2. Hotels: You all need to sleep somewhere.
Obviously, you and your fraternity need a place to stay and sleep in Austin.
At this stage, we always say that you should know your fraternity’s budget because without it, you won’t know what to look for or what to book.
When looking for a hotel in Austin, find hotels that are not only within your group’s budget, but also make sure they’ll take a party of your size. Do they have any special requirements for large groups? What’s their sales contract look like?
Also, make sure the hotel is in a safe area, and it might be a good idea to find one near things your fraternity wants to do and see. How far is it from the venue you’re planning to book, as well?
Our three favorites are Fairmont Austin, Austin Marriott Downtown, and The Driskill.
3. Venues: Let’s all have fun!
One of the most important things to book for your trip: A venue where everyone can have the time of their lives!
You and your fraternity want to get away from the humdrum of college life and have a ton of fun, so spending time finding the right venue is going to be crucial.
As we mentioned earlier, Austin is really getting popular with tons of events happening, people moving there, and so on. Because of this, pricing and availability of places can be challenging, so having an already-established relationship with the venue (and the hotel!) can be a huge plus for you to stay within your budget and timeframes.
Some other things you’ll want to think about:
How many people are going to be attending the formal weekend? Knowing this will help you determine which venue will be best for your group. Pay attention to how many people the venues can hold so everyone can have a great time comfortably.
What kind of venue would your brothers like? An open rooftop? Something more historic or modern?
Do you need to provide your own food? If so, you’ll need to make room in the budget for it!
Some of the venues we love in Austin are Skybox on 6th, Vuka Bouldin Creek, and 800 Congress.
4. We’re almost ready; getting to those last-minute details.
Clearly, there’s a lot you’ll need to consider when organizing your formal, and that’s only the big stuff! There are also some smaller details you’ll want to look into as you continue to organize your trip.
Because of Austin’s many events, make sure you give yourself plenty of time to book all the things you want, or else you may not be able to get them later down the road.
In general, also think about:
Payment schedule. When will all your payments be due? Who’s going to oversee making those payments?
Do you have the hotel check-in set up correctly so that people aren’t waiting forever to get to their rooms?
Have you gotten good pricing or are you being overcharged?
Is someone creating a detailed itinerary for everyone to follow? Does everyone have a copy of the itinerary?
Getting everything down, making sure your T’s are crossed and your I’s dotted, can be extremely overwhelming when you’re a busy college student. This is entirely understandable!
What we’ve seen happen a lot of times is that your fraternity’s Social or Formal Chair, or whoever has volunteered to do the work of planning the formal, is really into organizing everything at the beginning. They’re looking into things, researching, taking notes, and such, but as the school year catches up, things lag because planning a formal is a lot to do.
At BigDaddy Formals, we know just how much it takes to plan a fraternity formal, and we’ve planned each and every step to help fraternities just like yours get the formal they want.
Because we’ve been doing this for so long, we have amazing relationships with companies in Austin. They know us and are familiar with us, so we’re better able to get you discounts and times that you’ll want. We’ll do all the planning and research for you so you can just focus on school and life so all you have to do is be ready to have fun!
To get your formal ready to go, fill out this form here to chat with a representative about your fraternity formal in Austin.
Watch this video to see just what we’ll do for you and your formal:
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