I recently helped my best friend Alyssa to find the perfect wedding venue for her weekend-getaway Lake Tahoe wedding. I’m Danielle, I’ve worked in the wedding industry for 10 years and I’ve always loved Lake Tahoe and obviously weddings.

So when Alyssa told me she and her fiancé desperately wanted to get married in Lake Tahoe and asked for my help, I knew I had to find them the perfect spot for their wedding.

I jumped right into planning mode, venue hunting and touring are some of my favorite parts of wedding planning. There are so many amazing venues out there, and there are even more new hidden gems popping up everywhere

But enough about me, this is a story about my best friend Alyssa and her lovely fiancé Tim.

Alyssa has been my best friend since Kindergarten. We were neighbors — the kind where our backyards touched.

Alyssa met Tim at Drexel University where they both attended grad school.

When Alyssa first moved away to college, her parents relocated from the Bay Area up to Rocklin.

When Alyssa and Tim would visit from Philadelphia where the couple continues to live and work, they’d always make time for a side trip up to Lake Tahoe, which quickly became a special place for the two of them.

So, when Tim proposed this August, there was no question where they would get married. It would be Lake Tahoe. The main question was where in Tahoe.

Criteria for Venues

Alyssa and Tim, want their Lake Tahoe wedding to provide a great weekend getaway for Alyssa’s side of the family, who are primarily located between the Bay Area, Sacramento area, and Reno.

They’re excited to introduce Tim’s side of the family, who will be flying in from the Philadelphia area, to Lake Tahoe. Neither Tim nor Alyssa have a preference for North lake or South lake, but Tim loved the idea of a venue on the water.

Beginning the Search

I helped Alyssa put together a list of venues that account for four main variables associated with their shortlist of dates. The variables were:

Guest count: Can they accommodate their 130 person guest count?
Pricing: Are they priced within or near their budget, under $40,000?
Availability: Are they available for their shortlist of dates?
Surrounding Area: Is there enough for guests to do, where the wedding and hotel rooms are located?

We put together this spreadsheet which you are more than welcome to use or adapt for your search:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BqEhEHKp2nP9QSFHxO3_3Y6fVtRgFbNyc5WjcEcukgY/edit?usp=sharing

Alyssa was able to whittle it down to a shortlist of seven venues that we would visit together over three days in September, which is the time of year they’re planning to have their wedding.

Touring the Venues

We probably could have visited all seven venues in two days, but Plump Jack’s was closed on Sunday. We ended up visiting three on Saturday, three on Sunday, and one on Monday.

Alyssa organized our visits to minimize the amount of driving so that we could have more time at the venues and not feel too rushed.

We had her family and some family friends there which was well worth it to have them there to help with their insights.

Saturday

Just in case you’re wondering, we all got Covid tests and had been social distancing prior to our visit.

I joined Alyssa and Tim on a Friday evening at Alyssa’s parents’ house in Rocklin. We left from there early Saturday morning headed to South Lake Tahoe.

The Landing

As it turned out, the only venue in South Lake that made Alyssa’s shortlist was The Landing. I love The Landing. I really like that it’s right on the water, but you don’t have to share beach space because you’re on a deck above.

That way, you get those lake views without having tourists walking through your ceremony. There are tons of hotels nearby and lots of things to do for your guests.

Parking can be hard to find nearby though since it’s right by an entrance to a beach area. Tim and Alyssa both felt it would be a tight fit for their guest count.

After The Landing, we headed up the east side of the lake towards Nevada.

Tannenbaum

Tannenbaum offered a great bang for your buck. It had beautiful alpine views from both the indoor and outdoor spaces. It’s a lovely private venue and it’s reasonably priced. It also looked like a very versatile space.

Winter’s Creek lodge

A half-mile up the highway from Tannenbaum is the Winter’s Creek Lodge, the Mt. Rose Ski Resort lodge that converts into a private wedding venue outside of ski season.

Winter’s Creek Lodge had the most breathtaking views of the mountains from its floor-to-ceiling glass windows. This alpine venue is surprisingly accessible from Reno — only 22 miles!

After our Saturday venue visits, we headed to the new Springhill Suites hotel in Truckee, where we stayed through Sunday night. It made for a great meeting spot with Alyssa’s grandparents who joined us from Reno.

Sunday

With three venues to visit on Sunday between Truckee and the Squaw Valley area, we got an early start after a quick hotel breakfast in a bag — thanks for taking the fun out of breakfast Covid.

Squaw Valley Conference Center

We followed the Truckee River along Highway 89 to Squaw Valley, one of California’s premier ski resorts and host to the 1960 winter Olympics.

The Squaw Valley Conference Center is a beautiful, rustic banquet hall. I liked that you could have access to the space all day and it seemed like the rules were pretty relaxed, which is great.

One of the things that we like about the space was that there were plenty of accommodation options but that the area felt like people could easily meet up in its very centralized spots. We also liked that there were plenty of ways for guests to entertain themselves nearby within the Olympic Valley.

Cottonwood

To change things up, we headed to Cottonwood, a charming restaurant overlooking the town of Truckee from a large outdoor balcony.

Cottonwood is a relatively new entrant into wedding venue space in Truckee. It’s really cool to see new places like this popping up. Plus it’s very accessible to Truckee, which I love for its restaurants and bars.

We stopped on the way to our next venue visit at, The Blue Agave, a great Mexican restaurant across the street from the lake. Yum! I’d definitely order those enchiladas again. We may have also eaten like four baskets of chips!

Pro tip: make sure to bring some snacks and plan to eat between venues. Trust me, you don’t want to be a hangry Karen on your venue tours.

Gar Woods Grill and Pier

Our next stop was Gar Woods Grill, which is one of my favorite Northlake Tahoe venues. Similar to The Landing, you’re on the second-floor deck of the restaurant with beautiful views of the lake.

The food there is excellent. There’s a grassy park area beside the restaurant where they usually host wedding ceremonies, which is a little less private than some of the other venues but the reception space is hard to beat.

After we finished touring our third venue, we headed to Reno for dinner.

Popping into Reno from North Lake Tahoe

One of the great things about North Lake Tahoe is its relative proximity to Reno. The Reno airport is a great solution for getting your out-of-town guests to your Tahoe wedding easily.

Aside from being only 40 miles from Truckee, it has a super low-key airport that seems to never be busy except for maybe on one day a year when Burning Man ends. It’s a pretty big town and is great for last-minute provisions, rentals and the airport.

We stopped through Reno for dinner to visit Alyssa’s grandparents who now live there.

Monday

We might have been able to visit all of our venues over the weekend but one of the venues, Plump Jack, was closed on Sunday so we opted to visit it on Monday.

Personally I’m glad we did. In retrospect, I feel like if we had tried to do all of our visits over Saturday and Sunday, we might have opted to leave on Sunday and as a result, would have felt more rushed visiting those Sunday venues.

Plump Jack

Armed with our bag breakfasts, we made our way back to Olympic Valley to visit Plump Jack, which was originally designed to accommodate the Olympic athletes of the 1960 winter Olympics.

This was my favorite venue that we visited. They had tons of hotel rooms, lots of shopping, and things to do nearby. It would be super convenient for out-of-state guests and those driving up from the Bay Area to arrive and not really need to use their cars for the rest of the weekend.

Also, I love that it felt like you’re in the middle of nowhere when you’re there, but you still have plenty to do and everything feels really accessible.

After Plump Jack, we headed to the Fireside Pizza Company for some local beer and great outdoor dining, and to start making some decisions about venues.

Decision Time (and Pizza)

Initially, Tim really liked the idea of hosting the reception on the lakefront. But we realized that the places that could accommodate their group size were over their budget and the lakefront places that were within their budget were too small for their 130 guests.

To tick the waterfront box, they decided they would host their 40 person rehearsal dinner on the water instead, so they could have their lakeside experience and then do their reception elsewhere.

They narrowed down their venue list to Tannenbaum and Plump Jack based on accessibility, budget, and proximity to the waterfront and amenities.

Ultimately, they decided on Plump Jack because it was the most accessible to the area where they wanted their guests to be.

Until next time, Lake Tahoe…

It was a very successful weekend, all of the venues were amazing. Each venue had something different to offer wedding couples.

After a late lunch, we packed up our cars, said our goodbyes, and we headed back home. Two weeks later they had the contract in hand for Plump Jack and have been working through the details.

I’ll keep this post up to date on their progress. I hope this blog is helpful to couples who are considering having their wedding in the Lake Tahoe area.

If you’re considering getting married up in Tahoe or the Bay area drop me a line. I’m more than happy to help with any insight. These were only a few of the wonderful venues to be found up in Tahoe, There are so many others that I would love to see!

How I Helped My Best Friend Find the Perfect Lake Tahoe Wedding Venue