Vacation rental vs reception hall??

kayawedding

Hey! I just got engaged but we have always talked about getting married in Tahoe! We are looking into having the wedding at Lakeside Beach (super affordable). To keep the budget low (my fiance and I are both graduate students!), we were thinking of renting a vacation home to have a lunch/brunch reception. Any ideas of where to look? or what questions to ask????  Or any ideas of an affordable reception site? Any and all ideas would be wonderful!!!

OliveOilsMom

To find a vacation home, look into vrbo.com, you will rent directly from the home owner.  You can also ask them questions about hosting your reception there. 

CMGragain

Will the plumbing be adequate for your guests?  Chances are it will be a septic tank system.  It is somthing to think about.

LittlePeachBlossom

Try checking the local board too. Is this a Destination Wedding for your guests?

Almie425

Yes, make sure you ask if hosting an event at the rental property would be okay. I use homeaway.com too.

lyndausvi

Look at all the terms and conditions of the rental home.  We rented a beach house for our wedding weekend.   The wedding was not at the rental, but our 100+ welcome open house was.  We had to get special permission and pay additional costs in order to have the event there.  It took us weeks for them to even agree to the terms.  We also had to provide additional event insurance.  

 Some rentals flat out refused any types of parties like those.

ETA - oh and a sober guy thought the screen door was open.   Except it had just been closed.  Walked right through the door.   My dad is handy and went out the next day and fixed the screen.    You have to worry about that kind of stuff when renting houses.  Wine stains on carpets or furniture, broken what evers.   Just something to think about.

bridesontherun

I used vrbo.com when setting up my destination wedding plans. It's been an interesting experience. I will have 14 people plus the officient at my destination wedding, so I needed a place that could accommodate sleeping arrangements for that many, but also had either a foyer or yard/patio that could accommodate our ceremony. I wrote to the houses I had narrowed down on my list and asked if we could hold our small ceremony on their property. I believe it helped that I mentioned that all wedding guests would already be staying at the rental house, and the only outside guest would be the officiant.

Be prepared though... I had one home owner see the word wedding and bump the price up by 3k... Ridiculous considering all attendees would already be at the house. People hear wedding and jack up the price. Also consider that it may cost you more to hire the officiant you want since your wedding is on location. It wasn't a huge amount for us to include the travel mileage, just a surprise - so be prepared.

We're having our reception at a local restaurant since our party is small the restaurant had no issues booking a reservation for us. Good luck!