I'm in Birmingham and I would recommend the Botanical Gardens. They are free and have a lovely and spacious Japanese Garden. Other good cosplay spots are Sloss Furnaces in downtown Birmingham. It's an old steel furnace that has a lot of architectural shots and makes for a nice meetup and photography place. Sloss is also free and open to the public to walk around in.

Good days to meet up would be anytime, but if you wanted to coincide with an event, the Cherry Blossom Festival is every March at the Gardens and there's also Kami-Con at University of Tuscaloosa in April.

If any of y'all currently go to University of Montevallo, please message me. Omg Alabama Hetalia fans *squee*