Zephyr Cove Resort Reviews

This is the thank-you letter I wrote to Zephyr Cove Resort and Lake Tahoe Cruises after I chartered their special event yacht the evening before my son's wedding:

I am still basking in the afterglow of our wonderful wedding weekend which began in elegant fashion with our sunset dinner cruise aboard Zephyr Cove Resort’s Tahoe Paradise.

I had a vision for the evening that was executed to perfection by your talented and enthusiastic crew and staff. The captain’s narration provided an extra benefit for the guests, most of whom had never been to Lake Tahoe before. They were especially attentive to the stories behind Emerald Bay and Vikingsholm as the boat quietly circled the tea house island.

The funny thing is that in deciding to go with a dinner cruise over a conventional banquet in a fine restaurant my thinking was it would be worth sacrificing a level of cuisine quality for the distinctiveness of a sunset cruise on an azure lake surrounded by snow-capped mountains. But that was far from the case — the dinner was excellent, from the appetizers to both the beef and fish entrees. Everyone raved. I only wish there had been some type of dessert.

In all, it was an excellent event. A longtime Lake Tahoe resident even said it was the best experience he had enjoyed since arriving at the lake 15 years ago.

I offer my thanks to you and please extend them to all your staff and crew who made the special event possible.


Regards,


John Hoke

My husband and I could not have asked for a better day! Codie and Lesley were phenomenal to work with throughout the entire process. They were totally receptive to little menu changes we wanted to make before the wedding and had plenty of extra options for just about anything you could think of for a wedding day! And on the day of they helped to make sure that everything was put together and ran smoothly (including corralling one of the more tipsy groomsmen). We will never forget this day!

We had our wedding ceremony (and a short cruise following the ceremony) on January 19, 2019. The Tahoe Paradise was absolutely beautiful, and the people that we worked with to organize our event were amazing. They were extremely nice, helpful, and very responsive by email (since we had to organize our wedding in Lake Tahoe remotely, from Santa Fe). They made sure they were always available for any questions we had, and I always came away with the feeling that they cared as much as we did about making sure our ceremony was beautiful. During the cruise, after the ceremony, we had a small buffet available and we received so many compliments from our guests on how delicious the food was (and obviously also how beautiful the boat and the scenery in general was). Many people told us it was one of the best weddings they had ever been to, which I largely attribute to the wonderful venue, and how smoothly everything ran thanks to the awesome staff! I would do everything again, and would definitely recommend Zephyr Cove Cruises as a place for a beautiful wedding, or any special event. Thank you so much!

Zephyr Cove Resort was the ultimate destination for us and our guests. We loved staying in the cabins and lodge on site and sharing the true Lake Tahoe experience for our wedding weekend. We worked with Samantha leading up to our day and she was professional, communicative, and the best day of coordinator I have ever worked with at a venue. Our planning process, rehearsal, and wedding day ran so smoothly. We also appreciated her going the extra mile and jumping in her car to grab our flowers out of the LDW traffic getting to the beach so we could have them for our first look. The entire staff at Zephyr Cove was so accommodating and the food (and drinks) throughout the weekend did not disappoint. Thank you for making our wedding a truly memorable experience and for letting us share our special place with all of our guests from out of town!

I'll start by saying, we absolutely loved our wedding! We got married here this past month and had about 100 guests. The shoreline site was beautiful, the perfect backdrop for photos. Samantha, the event coordinator was great to work with, answered our many questions during the planning process, and kept everything running smoothly on the day of. We are still receiving compliments on how good the food was (we went with the BBQ option). Also, they provided a list of preffered vendors, we went with the recommendations and they were all amazing. Our wedding and reception met our expectations and then some, would definitely recommend!

This was a destination wedding for us and we couldn't have been happier.

Great location! Great views!

We had a beachside wedding followed by a 3 hour reception abroad Tahoe Paradise. Great food, great staff and a great time. I did my own music via iPhone and the captain was great with playing our reception music. He also let all the kids have a chance to steer the boat.

I can not say enough about our wedding coordinator, Joanna. She was amazing leading up to the day and on the day. I could not have done it with out her.

Accommodations at the resort were great as well. The cabins were very nice and you could walk right to the venue.

Highly recommend!!!

Let me start by saying we booked this venue while living in New York City. We went on pictures we saw online and speaking with employees at Zephyr Cove alone. We took a chance and we are glad we did!
Our coordinator was Stephanie, and she was amazing. It is worth the extra cost to have her there the day of the wedding as well. I will start with the food, it was amazing. Our taste test didn't do justice to the food served the day of the wedding. We did family style, but I believe you have the option of buffet or individual service as well. Whatever you do, get the short rib!!
The bride has the option of using a dressing room in the hotel with access an hour or 2 before the ceremony. The wedding coordinator comes and gets you when it is time to leave.
We also utilized Zephyr Cove shuttle buses to pick up our guests at up to 2 locations. They then drop people off at same point after the wedding.
Our beach ceremony was simple, lasting only about 20 minutes. They rope off a section of beach so no one can walk behind the officiant, but it is a public beach and you will for sure have wedding gawkers staring at you. They didn't bother us and no one made a big scene or interrupted our ceremony.
The tent will have white string up lights, but you have to add any other decorations yourself. We went with large paper lanterns and they really light up the tent. I didn't use the bathroom the whole time, but I heard it was kind of dirty, not too surprised as it is an outside bathroom/venue. There is a strict 10pm end time because of noise ordinances or something, and the time goes by fast. We opted to add tiki torches and a fire pit with smores and it really did add to the feeling of outdoorsiness we wanted for our wedding. If you are looking to save money, we got married on a friday night and that does save you a couple hundred dollars. You will not be disappointed in Zephyr Cove, it also will not break your bank! Surprisingly affordable compared to other Tahoe Resorts!

I got married here in June 2016 on the Tahoe Paradise and I was really impressed with the professionalism of the Zephyr Cove team!! Stephanie Stugart was my wedding planner/coordinator and she was great! She was kind, patient, and helpful. The catering staff was also top notch and they served great food! I'm glad my husband and I got to attend one of the free tastings offered to decide on our menu. All of my guests had a great time. We sailed into Emerald Bay and had gorgeous, perfect sunset photos. It rained on my wedding day and the staff graciously offered us an extra hour on the yacht since we had to start late. I was so thankful!! Our wedding was so unique and special!

My husband and I had our very intimate wedding (only 17 guests) here in April and were pleasantly surprised. We live in Washington state so having a destination wedding there is always room for snafus. Joanna Corry was our day of coordinator and went above and beyond to make sure everything was perfect for us! There were many times I watched her sprint across the venue to make sure everything was on point! Thank you for making our wedding day the best day of our lives!!

Stephanie was great to work with at Zephyr Cove, she was quick on her responses and really took the time to talk ideas and such out with me. The venue was amazing but since we are in Tahoe frequently that definitely wasn't something to worry about! This was a beautiful place to promise our lives to each other!!

Our wedding was amazing. Great food, great service, beautiful location! Sarah and Danielle were both so great! They were so helpful and easy to work with. They set everything up wonderfully. One of our guests actually works as an event coordinator for a very nice golf club out of state and she was so impressed with everything at Zephyr Cove. You know they did a great job when you impress someone else in the industry! Everything looked perfect and Sarah went above and beyond for our wedding. There was no stress during the wedding and we had a BLAST at our wedding thanks to Sarah and Danielle and staff at Zephyr Cove!

It was a beautiful qedding site and the people answered all of our questions and were really nice.

Location, location, LOCATION! Zephyr Cove was AMAZING. The view of the lake throughout our wedding was absolutely stunning! Everything was just perfect. Our coodinator, Kristin was also wonderful. She was very patient with all the changes I kept making as our wedding day approached and was also very helpful throughout the planning process. The food was delicious as well!

Beautiful venue!

* The tent curtain that was new this year was beautiful

* Our wedding coordinator was helpful and chill from start to finish with our planning and big day. I appreciate her having a calm energy about her ... made that day that much more relaxing and fun!

* The staff helping with food and drinks throughout the night were very friendly. I didn't run into them much (as I was in my own world that day), but I had a couple compliments after the wedding that the staff was cool.

* They were flexible and allowed me to do a s'mores bar (which was a little bit hard for them to approve ... but they made it happen (thank you!))

* I prefer communication via email (as it's hard to get interrupted on these details by phone when you work all day). They were awesome with their email communication.

* I never felt stuck ... they were always accommodating with our wants/needs

Great team over there at Zephyr Cove Resort ... thank you!

Danielle is awesome, she will make sure that your wedding is perfect! She responds fairly fast; especially if its not around the holidays/big events! She will basically do whatever you ask of her! I highly recommend Zephyr Cove & using Danielle, she is literately the best!

PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT.. Everything turned out exactly like we planned and dreamed of.

From my first email asking about getting married on Ms Dixie II I have had an amazing experience with every step. The arranging and booking were made simple and precise. Leslie and Codie both equally guided and arranged everything. I had no idea how or where to get marriage license. They did everything but sign the license. I wanted to speak to captain that was going to marry us. They asked and he gave me his personal cell number. I wanted a cabin on the water. These ladies arranged the perfect cabin. Clean. Close to the water and at the end of road for privacy. I asked for their choice of their favorite restaurants and I got a list of paces I would go back to when I come next time. The drive around the lake was the one thing both agreed is a must do and both of us had the time of our life. My favorite thing about our trip was our wedding day. Starting off with the captain asking where at on boat we wanted to preform service. Since it was just the 2 of us I asked about the wheel house. Captain quickly said well that sounds like a great place. He had never done a ceremony there before. Probably because most wedding parties have several people envolved. I got to say getting married to my best friend in the pilots office in front of the big steering wheel was a winner. The dinner was excellent. The head chef made us a very special dessert that was as good as it was pretty. The waiters gave us fantastic service. These guys really hustle to make everyone's experience memorable. The bar tender was a show in itself. He made drinks I have never seen before with a speed I have only seen on a couple occasions. Summing up our experience. I will continue telling people to check into this if a wedding is in anyone's future. This was as affordable as weddings get. I am so happy I stumbled onto this place as I surfed the net for wedding ideas. Gerald Roland

Let me start by saying we did not have the typical wedding "day," we had an entire wedding weekend.. literally! We had the entire property rented from Fri-Mon, including the cabins, so the whole weekend took lots of planning and coordinating. We had a welcome party Friday night for all the guests, wedding Saturday, a recovery brunch Sunday, and took a sunset cruise on the the Tahoe Paradise.

Throughout the process we were in constant communication with Lesley. She coordinated everything, and put up with our forever changing details. Somewhere in the middle of the planning Codie became involved and she worked tirelessly to ensure we had all the details covered.

When the weekend finally came, we ran into some inevitable hiccups, but Lesley, Codie, and Joraj "George" (the Senior Marketing Manager), assessed the situations and recovered well. They worked very hard, and we all know it was not an easy weekend to put together. Honestly, for the most part no one was even aware of the hiccups, except us. I am still getting feedback from our 140 guests that it was the best wedding they have ever been to!

I would definitely recommend working with them; they will work just as hard or harder than any other coordinator or venue staff.

Our wedding and reception was aboard the Tahoe Paradise. Captain Agustine and the crew were awesome! Our Event Manager was always very helpful and quick with her responses. The only thing I would have like to see were pictures of the layout of the boat when set up for the event. I'm a very visual/unimaginative person, and knowing exactly what space/tables are available to us before the event would have been helpful. Overall my husband, family and all of our guest had an amazing time.

I loved having my wedding here. I was a little worried at first when my even coordinator was changed while I was planning my wedding but all the staff there was wonderful. Planning a wedding can me very stressful and they made the event very enjoyable. Even when my wedding day had to be moved back a day they were so helpful and made everything so easy. The site was beautiful and I will ever forget it, my wedding day was amazing thank you to Zephyr Cove

For a partially low maintenance bride, The Tahoe Queen was an AMAZING place for a wedding reception!! Lindsey was awesome to work with and very flexible as we tried to incorporate a few personal touches before the public joined the cruise. We couldn't rent the whole thing. We didn't have/get to choose food or music and that was fine. Both turned out to be very high quality! The Captain of the boat was very entertaining and gave a great tour of Emerald Bay. The staff was super nice! Overall, an amazing experience for our out of town guests and flexible enough to allow the special touches we wanted to incorporate for our group.

This venue was AMAZING, Danielle (my coordinator) was wonderful, and always responded to all of my questions (and I had A LOT). HOWEVER if you plan on blocking cabins for your guests beware their other staff that handles the reservations are absolutely terrible, I've never had so many problems with them...not having the right name down for guests, kicking them out on Saturday when they paid through Sunday etc. Barring that the venue was perfect and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a great all inclusive site up in Tahoe.

I just got married there last week. I worked with Danielle and Jennifer and both were very helpful and even allowed my dogs to sit with us on the beach for the ceremony. The food was great too, many of my guests raved about it!

Zephyr Cove Resort is such a beautiful spot for a wedding, large or small. Melissa helped us out through the entire process. She was very organized, professional, fun and made sure that all of the details were taken care of, so we can just enjoy the moment. It was the most an enchanted evening!

The venue is incredible. We had a shoreline ceremony followed by a reception a few yards away in their beautiful tent. It was everything I could have hoped for and I definitely recommend it!