Weddingbee boards

We're having our ceremony at Sugar Pine Point and our reception at the Lodge in Tahoe Donner (Truckee).  I obviously have an affinity towards SPP since that's what we chose (we were also considering Gatekeepers and other Tahoe venues).  SPP is a little more private (Gatekeepers is in Tahoe City, right next to Fanny Bridge so there are a lot of people close by), but it's still a public park and I've seen pics where people are riding by on their bikes.  I also thought SPP had a nicer view of the lake, for some reason I thought the water looked more blue.  There's a great dock at SPP (we even thought of departing on an old woody but alas the water level is too low). Also important to note is that there is no access to the actual mansion at SPP, and you can't even start setting up for the wedding until 3:30.  This was a huge dilemma for us, and part of the reason we decided to do a split site.  I've heard other people doing spit site, including Granlibakken and Valhalla.  The split site seems to have solved our concerns with the "rusticness" of the site.  But the contact, Michele, has been great to work with so far. 

Please feel free to contact me because I've been researching this for a whole year :-)

Good luck, Tahoe is a beautiful location!

I'm sure that you've decided by now, but for others who are debating this issue I can offer a little more information on Gatekeeper's as we got married there last Labor Day weekend ('09). We used tents and had lights and a generator and it was really, really lovely. The privacy wasn't an issue for us because Gatekeeper's provides a pseudoguard who keeps looky-loos off of the property when there is a wedding. The location was ridiculously convenient for us because all of our family rented the condos at Tahoe Marina Lodge and we had a bbq at Commons Beach Park (you can rent a little amphitheater area) for our welcome-to-town dinner. I'm not a fan of South Lake Tahoe and the casinos, so it was much nicer for us to be on the North side. It was also extraordinarily beautiful, particularly at night. We were very grateful for the tents because it got cold at night, as mountain areas tend to do, and the sidewalls of the tents kept the party cosy. We also could walk to the nearby tavern after the music stopped (10pm sharp in Tahoe) and continued to have fun into the wee hours of the morning at the local bar. All in all, I was extremely pleased and would recommend Gatekeepers to just about anyone. I'd be happy to chat about it or share pictures (we found it impossible to find good pictures of the place online!) to anyone who is curious about it. 

Hi Ladies,

I just got married three weeks ago at the Gatekeepers Museum and I absolutely loved it!  We also used D'lish as our caterer and they were wonderful.  If you are like me, chances are you are not a local and will need someone up there to help you with all the details.  The nice thing about D'lish is they will actually handle all you rentals and decorations set up in addition to all your catering needs.  I also used wanda's flowers and she did an absolutely wonderful job.  I highly recommend anyone who it thinking to get married at the gatekeepers to do it!  you won't be dissapointed.

@Jenny Sue:

Here are some pics of Gatekeeper's that we took before we booked it. Should give anyone who is contemplating having their wedding here a good idea of what the layout looks like.

@LakeTahoeBride:

Hi,

I really need your advice! I am a budget bride and my fiance has his heart set on a Tahoe lakefront venue. I've been doing my research and Erhman Mansion, Gatekeeper's, & Valhalla all seemed like good contenders, but I'm open to more suggestions. I only got a price quote of $4k for Gatekeeper's so far. Do you remember pricing for the other venues? I really only want to spend $15k on our wedding. Do you think that's doable? If you have any references for caterers, DJ, party rentals, etc please let me know. My email is mirkatuver@yahoo.com

Thanks again in advance for all your help, I really appreciate it!