Saturdays in the shoulder months go first. If your heart is set on a May, June, September or October Saturday, plan on booking twelve to eighteen months out — and understand that the popular dates in those months are usually gone before the year turns.
What almost nobody tells you is how much movement there is elsewhere in the calendar. Fridays release inside six months. Sunday afternoons open up inside three. Weekday dates carry a discount at most venues, ours included, and the room is identical.
If your date is genuinely fixed, ask to join the cancellation list. It costs nothing, and roughly one Saturday a season comes back to us between eight and twelve weeks out.
