Lake Tahoe Dock Wedding at West Shore Cafe and Inn

Melissa Baran
May 1, 2019
Categories: Real Weddings, Romantic, The Blog
Tags: Southwest Venues

We’ve seen many a waterfront wedding, but it’s not often we see a reception dinner right on a dock! I can see why West Shore Cafe was the Bride’s dream wedding venue and once you hear below how the Groom booked this spot as a add-on surprise to his proposal, you will melt. With Elise Events at the planning helm, Natasha Kolenko on florals and Joel Serrato behind the lens, you’re sure to pull a few pieces of pretty from the gallery to inspire your Big Day.

From the Bride… Peter and I were introduced through my best friend (now sister-in-law!) and Peter’s brother when they came to visit us in San Francisco from Orange County. After they left, we started spending all our time together and quickly fell hard for each other over our shared love of the beach, hiking, movies, wine tasting, and watching football. After spending 5 years together in San Francisco, we decided to move to Orange County to be close to family. Then, during a weekend away in San Francisco to visit friends, Peter proposed under the Golden Gate Bridge. That evening, he surprised me by flying both our families to town to help us celebrate. Just when I thought the day couldn’t possibly get any better, during dinner, Peter announced there was one more surprise. Our wedding date was booked for exactly 1 year later at the venue I had always dreamed about getting married at, West Shore Café in Lake Tahoe.

Lake Tahoe had always been special to our family. In addition to the spectacular beauty and varied outdoor activities, my parents were married there 35 years ago, and we have spent time there as a family ever since. Peter and I had also spent many warm summers and cozy winters together at the lake and thought it would be the perfect place to get married one day. With the wedding officially one year away, my mom and I couldn’t wait to get started planning but we knew that in order to pull off our vision, we would need to help of an expert.

We were introduced to Danielle with Elise Events and were smitten from our first phone call. Then after our initial planning meeting, Danielle put together the most stunning design packet for our warm, welcoming Fall celebration and from there we were off and running. We couldn’t believe how she was able to capture exactly what we were going for after just one meeting.

Danielle also introduced us to our amazing team of vendors. From Carey Galliani our fabulous graphic designer who designed our save the dates, invitations, and paper goods, to Natasha Kolenko who did the stunning flowers, to Joel Serrato our photographer extraordinaire and Johnny B our creative and fun-loving videographer. We had the all-star team and not only did they make this day so memorable, they became family in the process. One of the most special moments of the day was walking down the aisle (shocking!). We stood firm with our decision to pass on everyone’s advice of doing a “first look” to help with photography timing. It was important to us to have that special, romantic moment when we saw each other for the first time coming down the aisle. It was more perfect than I could have imagined. The second I saw Peter I started crying and I’ll never forget the look of pure love on Peter’s face…a forever memory.

After the heartfelt ceremony and a celebratory cocktail hour, we moved onto the deck for dinner and took in the beauty of the lake at sunset. Following the most warm, heartful, and funny speeches, it was straight to the dance floor. From my young to old, family and friends alike, the dance floor was packed the entire night. Big props to my dad for finding our epic band! That was the one job he took on and he nailed it. It didn’t hurt that we had a bar and espresso cart just a few steps away. It was the happiest end to the most magical day. Despite the hours of planning and preparation we already miss our planning sessions with Danielle and my mom and my excuse to spend even more time together.

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