Tyler & Allie's Chalet View Lodge Wedding: A Green Forest Celebration in the Lost Sierra
Tyler and Allie got married at Chalet View Lodge, in the pines just off Highway 70, a few minutes down the road from the summer camp where they met as high schoolers in 2018.
That's the whole reason they picked it. They'd been driving past this place for years on the way to Allie's family cabin, and they wanted two spots on that same stretch of highway they could point at: the one where they met, and the one where they got married.
Green everywhere, because it's Allie's favorite color. A guest list told to wear black and green. Stained glass table numbers a friend made by hand. A cake from the groom's mom. A surprise cannoli vendor nobody saw coming. And a dance floor under the pines that turned into the best light show in Plumas County.
Why Chalet View Lodge Is One of the Best Forest Wedding Venues Near Lake Tahoe
Chalet View Lodge sits on Highway 70 in Portola, California, on more than ten acres in the Lost Sierra, about an hour north of Truckee and Lake Tahoe. Pine forest, meadows, ponds, and a nine-hole golf course, with Plumas County's mountains all around it.
It's built for a weekend rather than an evening. There are 52 rooms on the property, ranging from resort rooms to one-bedroom cabins, three-bedroom villas, suites, and an Airstream, so most of a guest list can sleep where the wedding is. For ceremonies and receptions there's an outdoor lawn, a 40-by-80 clear-top tent, an indoor banquet hall, a poolside terrace, and a brewery. Weddings run roughly April through November.
What makes it work for a forest wedding is that the forest is already doing the work. The pines are enormous, the light comes through them in pieces, and anything you build under them is competing with something that's been there a lot longer.
It's also one of our favorite properties to photograph this side of the Sierra, for reasons that show up all through this post: a pond with a wooden bridge, a lawn that opens to the west, and a tree canopy that holds string lights beautifully once the sun goes down.
Why Tyler & Allie Chose a Venue Minutes From Where They Met
Both of them grew up in Reno, so the Sierra isn't a destination for them. It's the backyard. Tyler skis Tahoe in the winter, they both hike all over it, and their favorite trips are backpacking in Desolation Wilderness.
But the Chalet earned it on geography. They met at a summer leadership camp at Grizzly Creek Ranch, a few minutes down the same highway. Allie's family has a cabin just outside Quincy, so they'd been driving past the lodge for years on the way there.
The idea of two landmarks on one drive is a better reason to book a venue than most. Every time they make that trip now, they pass both.
A Green Wedding Color Palette for a Forest Wedding
The color scheme was green. Not green with accents of something else. Green.
Allie loves it enough that Tyler had her engagement ring made with small green diamond accents around an oval center stone, so by the time the wedding came around, the palette was settled. Greenery ran down the length of the reception tables with white florals tucked through it, the arbor was built out of the same mix, and guests were asked to wear black and green.
That last part is worth stealing. A guest dress code built around two colors means every wide shot of your reception, every group photo, and every candid on the dance floor holds together instead of turning into a color wheel. It costs nothing and it changes how the whole gallery looks.
Tyler wore a cream suit with a green bow tie. The tables were bare wood with cross-back chairs, candles, and low white and green arrangements, and once the string lights came on over the lawn, the whole setup went warm.
A DIY Wedding Made by Friends and Family
When we asked Tyler and Allie how they'd pitch the day to a magazine, they didn't talk about design. They talked about who made what.
Their friend Ellie made all the stained glass table numbers and the welcome sign by hand. Tyler's mom, Jaime, made the cake topper, the fabric signs, the lace chair coverings that ran down both sides of the head table, and the cake itself.
DIY details photograph differently than rented ones. Stained glass in afternoon light does something a printed number card can't, and a cake made by the groom's mother carries a story that shows up in how people look at it.
Getting Ready at the Lodge
The morning happened on the property, which is the quiet advantage of a venue with rooms on site. Allie's gown hung from a wooden beam in a shaft of window light before she got into it. Her bridesmaids got ready around her, and there's a frame of the whole group mid-cheer that we'd put in an album before any posed one.
Tyler got ready with his guys nearby, adjusting a green bow tie in a hallway, and at some point they picked him up off the ground. That happens.
[VILD: Add the first look. Tyler and Allie named it as one of the three things they most wanted to remember, so if you photographed it, it deserves two or three sentences right here.]
A Forest Ceremony in the Pines
The ceremony was always going to be outside. An outdoor wedding in the forest and the mountains was the whole brief.
White chairs in rows on the lawn, a wooden arbor at the end of the aisle with white florals and greenery climbing one side, and pines standing over all of it. Allie came up the aisle with a long veil trailing behind her, her arm through the arm of a gentleman in a dark suit, and the light came through the trees in pieces the whole time.
They also wanted a tradition woven in, and were choosing between a ring warming and a sacred knot.
Then they came back down the aisle through a tunnel of guests and a whole lot of airborne streamers.
Cocktail Hour at the Airstream Bar
Cocktail hour happened out in the pines, with drinks poured from an Airstream bar parked under the trees, a chalkboard menu propped against it and greenery across the top.
This is the part of the day Tyler and Allie came for. What they were most excited about was having everyone they love in one place, and cocktail hour is where that actually happens: hugs, long conversations, a beer with somebody's dad, people meeting each other for the first time.
Golden Hour Portraits by the Pond
Later we took them out for portraits, down to the pond with the wooden bridge across it and back into the trees while the sun dropped through the pines.
The light at this property in the last hour is worth planning around. It comes in low and sideways through the trunks, catches the water, and turns the whole forest floor gold. We got them on the bridge with the pond holding the reflection, and in among the trees with the sun flaring between the branches.
Everyone They Love, Seated at Dinner
The third thing on their list wasn't a photo of the two of them. It was everyone they care about, together, seated at dinner.
Long wooden tables ran across the lawn under the pines, greenery and candles down the middle, string lights strung overhead. Toasts happened while the sun was still coming through the trees behind the head table, and the light got better as they went.
They'd had a preview of that feeling at their joint bachelor and bachelorette party, which they threw with both immediate families and their closest friends in one room, and it stuck with them. Reception planning ended up being the part of the whole process they had the most fun with.
The Dance Floor: Lasers in the Pines with DJ Brock and Steele
Then the sun went down, and this is where the night turned.
Tyler and Allie brought in DJ Brock and Steele, who we've worked with on a lot of weddings and who has never once given us a slow room. The dance floor sat out on the lawn under the string lights with the forest black behind it, and once the lasers came on, the beams ran straight out into the pines. There's no venue effect like it. A ballroom absorbs that light. A forest sends it a hundred feet into the trees.
Allie changed into a shorter white dress and did not leave the floor. Glow sticks came out. Tyler got hoisted up by his friends more than once. There's a frame of her mid-spin with her bouquet still in the air and another of the whole floor packed under a blue laser burst with the trunks lit up behind everyone.
This is Rob's favorite part of a wedding day, and it shows in the coverage. Dance floor photography is its own skill: it's dark, it's fast, the light changes every half second, and the good frames come from reading the room rather than waiting for something to happen. Flash in one hand, timing the laser bursts, staying in the middle of it instead of shooting from the edge.
Two things make those photos possible, and only one of them is the photographer. The second is a DJ who can build a room. Brock and Steele reads a crowd and keeps it moving, which means there's something to photograph in the first place. If you want a gallery that ends with fifty frames of people losing it, book a DJ who can get you there and a photographer who wants to be out on the floor with them.
The night ended with a sparkler tunnel, guests packed in on both sides with sparklers up, and the two of them kissing in the middle of it.
Planning a Wedding at Chalet View Lodge: What to Know
Does Chalet View Lodge Have On-Site Lodging?
Yes, and it's the main reason to book it. The property has 52 rooms across resort rooms, one-bedroom cabins, three-bedroom villas, suites, and an Airstream. For a guest list traveling from Reno, Sacramento, or the Bay Area, that turns a wedding into a weekend.
How Many Guests Can Chalet View Lodge Hold?
Around 150. Listings put seated capacity near 120 indoors and higher outdoors under the tent. Confirm the current numbers with the venue, since they depend on your layout.
When Can You Get Married at Chalet View Lodge?
Roughly April through November. It's at elevation in Plumas County, so the season runs shorter than it does at lower venues, and shoulder-season dates come with real weather risk.
How Far Is Chalet View Lodge From Lake Tahoe and Reno?
It's north of the lake in the Lost Sierra, off Highway 70.
Do You Need a Backup Plan for an Outdoor Forest Wedding?
Less than you would at most outdoor venues, since the clear-top tent and the indoor banquet hall are both on site. Still worth deciding early which space becomes the ceremony if the weather turns, so nobody is making that call the morning of.
How Much Decor Does a Forest Ceremony Need?
Very little. The pines are the design. Tyler and Allie put their effort into things that were handmade and meant something, which reads better in photos than anything you can rent.
Why Does the DJ Matter So Much for an Outdoor Reception?
Because an outdoor dance floor is a harder room to build than an indoor one. There are no walls holding the energy in, and people drift off toward the tables and the bar. A DJ who can read that and keep pulling the room back is the difference between a dance floor that fills for an hour and one that doesn't clear all night.
Planning a Forest Wedding Near Lake Tahoe?
We're VILD Photography, Robert and Marie, a husband-and-wife team based in Tahoe. We photograph weddings all over this part of the Sierra, from the lake up into the Lost Sierra, and the ones we like best are the ones built out of things that actually mean something to the two people getting married. We'll also be out on your dance floor at the end of the night rather than watching from the edge of it.
If you're planning a wedding at Chalet View Lodge or anywhere in these mountains, tell us about it. We'd love to hear where it's happening.
Vendors:
Photographer: @vildphotography
Venue: @chaletviewlodge
Wedding Planner: @chaletviewlodge
Videographer: @vildphotography
Hair & Makeup: @thecrusalon
Caterer: @eats_cooking_co
Dress Boutique: @swoonbridal
Rental / Decor: @chaletviewlodge
Hair Stylist: @rmbbeauty_studio
Cannoli Bar: @therollicannoli
Bar: @rintintapsmobilebar
Wedding Rings: @lavendercreekgems
