I had a bride ask me once if getting married in Nevada was like it happens in the movies: you just decide to elope and VIOLA! You are married! Well, while it is easy to get married and even to elope, it isn’t THAT easy. There is just a little bit of planning that needs to happen. We can and do perform weddings within a couple of days of the first phone call, but it is usually not possible to arrange to do a wedding on the same day that you place that first phone call to us. While there is no typical turn around time between the initial phone call and the wedding, most of our weddings happen between a week and three months from the time of the phone call.

So what needs to happen in order to make your elopement work? Many of the few steps that need to be done can be completed with one phone call to us. We can help you decide on a date and a place to get married and give you the information needed to get your wedding license.

We specialize in elopements, which means the steps needed to plan a wedding are fewer than the bigger weddings. But there are a few things that are essential in order for a wedding to take place: a date, a venue (a place to hold the wedding), a wedding license and an officiant (the person who does the ceremony).

We believe that even elopements are just as special as any other wedding. Here at Chapel of the Pines, elopements are our specialty. We want you to have a ceremony that moves you and fits you. We want you to have photos that you are proud to show to family and friends who weren’t at the wedding. That’s what we do: ceremonies and photography. It is important to remember that we do weddings on location only, we do not have a chapel nor an office. Unless you can call the passenger seat of my car the office! Originally, the name Chapel of the Pines was created because we did weddings only outdoors, amidst the pines of Lake Tahoe. Today of course we do weddings at many more places than amidst the pines at Lake Tahoe. Our territory covers Washoe Valley, Carson City, Minden and Gardnerville and Topaz Lake areas. We do serve the south and east shores of Lake Tahoe but do not provide service at Emerald Bay or the west shore.

Let’s take the wedding license first. It is a legal document, so we cannot issue that for you. You must get your wedding license from a County Clerk’s office. Most county clerks are requiring you to make an appointment ahead of time to get your license. The good news is that getting a wedding license is quick and easy! You bring that license to us at the time of the wedding. It is important to remember that the state in which you live is irrelevant to where you get your wedding license. You must get your license in the state in which you plan to hold the wedding. Nevada weddings require a Nevada wedding license and California weddings require a California wedding license. We can help you find the appropriate county clerk’s office when you call.

Your next step is to decide on a date and find a venue. Finding a venue if it is just the two of you is different than finding one if there are 100 of you. Many venues have a minimum number of guests; it’s the only way they can stay in business. However, some venues do offer specials for eloping couples. If you have a dream venue, call them. You never know what could happen. We have gone to some wonderful places to do weddings! We regret that we cannot give out referrals for venues but we do offer our Venue Service if you need help with that.

Once you have an idea of when and where you want to get married, give us a call for your officiant and photography services!

Our phone number is (530) 906-9336.