What to know about selecting a Lake Tahoe wedding venue

Venue: Edgewood | Photos: Elsa Boscarello

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Check out our very own Danielle Correa’s blog about helping her BFF find the perfect Lake Tahoe wedding venue

Let’s dive into Lake Tahoe wedding venues and their unique differentiations in booking considerations from other California wedding venues.

Lake Tahoe is a world destination with its stunning blue water, lakeside views and lush surrounding forest.  Visitors from all over flock to the area during winter and summer seasons, booking VRBO’s and hotel rooms months or years in advance.  

As a result, planning at least nine months to a year ahead of your preferred wedding date in Lake Tahoe is a must to ensure you can book your ideal venue and get lodging for your guests. 

While the glittering snowy backdrop might be one of your main reasons for selecting Lake Tahoe for your winter wedding, it is important to be aware of how the snowy season could affect your event.  Heavy snowfall can cause road closures and lengthy delays driving over the mountain. That plus the very heavy weekend traffic from California tourists during both the summer and winter season make road travel slow going.  

Although it’s good to be aware of possible, unforeseen complications like a snowstorm, that shouldn’t deter you from creating an intimate and cozy winter wedding.  

An indoor location at The Hyatt Regency, PlumpJack Squaw Valley Inn or Edgewood have rooms to create a warm and romantic environment filled with glowing fireplaces and light set against the sparkling white snowy background.  

Summer weddings in Lake Tahoe are outdoors.  Embrace the natural surroundings with a lakeside ceremony and reception and your wedding pictures will have green forest and blue water as your backdrop.  
The tourist appeal of Lake Tahoe makes this an ideal location for weekend getaway weddings, elopements, or destination weddings.  Plan a long weekend for your guests that can include a selection of seasonal activities, visiting must-see sites along the lake shore and cozy family meals at famous restaurants or lodges.  

It should be no surprise that the summer and winter seasons are the high season for Lake Tahoe, with harder to book dates and higher prices.  Low season is in spring and fall, where the weather could change quickly from warm to cold, with rain and snow possible, and generally making outdoors locations all a bit muddy and wet.

Once you’ve narrowed down where you want to be married, be sure to read our Step By Step Guide to Picking the Perfect Wedding Venue  to help you focus and narrow down your wedding venue search.  It also includes an extremely helpful Venue Question Guide to bring along when you start touring wedding sites.  

Once you have your perfect wedding venue secured, you can start booking the rest of the wedding professionals you’ll need for a dream wedding.  How much time you have before your date will determine the timeframe for when you need to book whom.

For a good guide on what other wedding vendors to book and when to book them, just add your wedding date and location on Event Hollow and it will automatically recommend by date when each service should be booked.   

Key Considerations

High season: June-Sept.  (most busy and requested dates)

Low season: May, Oct-Nov

Things to keep in mind: Tahoe has two low seasons due to cold and wet weather, these fall between ski season and summer, which is typically wet and muddy and in the fall when the weather turns wet and cold. Sierra weather can change quickly and even during the height of summer, it can rain and even snow! 

Getting there in the winter can be a logistical challenge with frequent chain requirements, road closures and heavy traffic to and from the Bay Area. For North Lake Tahoe weddings consider having your out-of-state guests fly into Reno.

Accommodations can book out fast, so make sure to book room blocks or cabins at least nine months in advance. 

Trends for the area: Depending on the season you’ll have different trends for winter weddings, coziness, fireside aprèz-ski and and lodges are in. Some Venues to check out includeThe Hyatt Regency in North Lake Tahoe, Plump Jack Inn at Squaw  Valley. Edgewood in North Lake Tahoe or the Landing in South Lake Tahoe or the Rainbow Lodge new Donner Pass.

For summer weddings you can take advantage of the lake with a casual, beachy feel with a lake-side ceremony or reception. Tahoe makes for a great weekend getaway or destination wedding. 

Tahoe is a great place for finding natural, untouched sites for elopements or smaller outdoor wedding ceremonies. 

Congrats and have fun planning!

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out at [email protected] We’re always happy to help!


Expert Advice, VenuesJennifer Edmon