Eloping in Tahoe?

librasan

My fiance are looking to elope. This will be my second wedding and neither of us want the fuss of planning a wedding or dealing with family ahead of time. We plan to have a luncheon or cocktail hour at some point afterwards to celebrate our marriage.
Money and time are an issue. I would also like my 9 year old daughter to be a part of the ceremony.
We live in NJ and NYC is probably the easiest place to get married quickly without a fuss, but getting married at the marriage bureau seems a little like a trip to the DMV and we'd both like something a little more intimate and memorable.
So we are considering flying to either Vegas or Tahoe, but there are so many choices, it's hard to narrow down and know what's tacky/touristy and what's truly romantic or special.
So, in regards to Tahoe: is Reno the closest airport? How long of a drive is it from there? I've only driven from San Francisco and I think that was around 5 hours!
I love the natural beauty of Tahoe. Would it still be too cold for a beach wedding at the end of April?
I saw a website for Chapel of the Bells which advertises reasonable beach, garden or chapel weddings. Does anyone have experience with this place?
Any information/experiences you ladies would like to share is appreciated

lisadrown

Hi, I'm getting married in South Lake Tahoe in July.  I'm only paying $400 for my wedding site on the beach, it's at lakeside beach, they have a website with a beautiful gallery of previous weddings...  www.laketahoebeachweddings.com
It's a nice simple place.  It seats up to 200 people but you have to pay more, the $400 is for 1hour with a max of 50people.  I went there last summer to look at the site.  It is on the beach so to the left of the site is a public beach, there are employees that keep the public away from the wedding site.  But if your looking for something simple this place would be great.  Also, look up emerald bay.  There are small lookouts that are a great idea with fasinating views.  You can only have a few people at these sites though.  Good Luck!

olywillis

Hi, I think Reno is the closest major airport - there are other smaller, private ones though. So from there to SLT, it should be about 1.5 hours at most. As far as the weather, I just looked on weather underground and the avg max temp from last April was 48 degrees with an average of 55 degrees. To me that's cold, but to you that could be fine :-) The record was 74 degrees though.

http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KTVL/2010/4/30/DailyHistory.html?req_city=South+Lake+Tahoe&req_state=CA&req_statename=California

I have not been inside Chapel of the Bells, but I passed it a lot and it looked fine. The trees and flowers will probably be beautiful at the end of April.

I wish you luck!