There’s a moment when you first pull up to Edgewood Tahoe and understand why couples drive from across the country to get married here.
The lodge sits right on the water. The lake is right there, close enough that you can hear it. The view feels genuinely impossible: mountains behind it, the sheer expanse of it. As an Edgewood Tahoe wedding photographer, I’ve shot weddings across the entire Tahoe basin. This view never ceases to amaze me.
What Edgewood Is
Edgewood Tahoe Resort sits on the South Shore of Lake Tahoe in Stateline, Nevada, right at the water’s edge. It’s a full-service luxury resort with a championship golf course, a spa, lakefront dining, and several ceremony and reception spaces built for high-end weddings.
This is not a barn venue or a forest clearing. It’s polished, refined, and built to host celebrations at a scale that requires real planning. The couples who choose Edgewood want a certain kind of day: elevated, beautiful, with a backdrop guests are still talking about years later. The venue delivers on that.
It’s also one of the more logistically involved venues I work at. There are things worth knowing before you fall in love with it from a website. More on that below.
The Ceremony Spaces
Edgewood has three ceremony locations, and each one has a distinct personality.
The North Lawn is where most couples end up, and it earns its reputation. It faces the lake directly, with mountains on both sides, and can accommodate up to about 150 guests. From a photography standpoint, it gives you a lot: guests behind the couple, the water behind the couple, the mountains behind the couple. Everything works in the same direction. When the light is right, it’s one of the most naturally beautiful ceremony setups I photograph anywhere in the region.
The South Lawn is smaller and more contained. It reads as more intimate, a better fit for couples who want something that feels like a private gathering rather than a grand celebration. Also, the South Room for the reception is cozy in the best way. It photographs softer and less sweeping than the North side, but genuinely beautiful in its own right.
The 17th Green is the option for larger weddings, up to around 300 guests, under a tent on a lakeside lawn available only during select summer months. This setup requires the couple to contract the tent separately, which adds meaningful cost and planning complexity. But when it’s done well, it’s stunning. A full tented wedding at Edgewood on a summer evening is one of those setups where I’m genuinely excited to show up.
Additionally, all of this comes with specific rules about which spaces can be used for photos and which are off limits, out of respect for hotel guests. So working with a photographer and planner who know the venue’s logistics will make the wedding day much smoother.
What the Light Does
Edgewood ceremonies tend to happen in the late afternoon or early evening, and that timing is not an accident. The venue schedules ceremony windows starting around 5 PM, with receptions running through 10 or 11 PM. In summer, that structure lines up almost perfectly with golden hour. On the South Shore, the sky goes warm and saturated between 7 and 8 PM. That window creates light I simply don’t get on a direct-sun afternoon.
The lakefront at Edgewood during that window is one of my favorite places to make portraits in the Tahoe area. The water picks up the light and throws it back. Also, the mountains turn colors. The contrast between the couple and that backdrop doesn’t require any work from me. It’s just already there. In fact, I’m not fighting for a good shot. I’m making choices about which good shot to take.
What Couples Should Know Before They Book
Edgewood is one of the most requested venues in the South Shore area. There are a few things I wish couples knew before they started planning.
The first is the timeline. This venue books 12 to 18 months out for most dates. For peak summer Saturdays, some couples lock in their date closer to two years ahead. So if you have a specific date in mind, start that conversation early.
The second is that Edgewood requires couples to work with a full-service or partial wedding planner. This isn’t optional, and it’s the right call for a venue at this level. The in-house team handles catering, bar service, and their own furniture. The broader coordination, vendor management, timeline, and design all fall to your planner. A wedding at Edgewood without a strong planner is a much harder day for everyone. I’ve worked alongside some excellent planners here, including Allison Keasal with Allison Keasal Events, who knows this venue well and runs a polished operation.
The third is that Edgewood is a public resort. Other guests are on the property on your wedding day. For ceremonies on the North Lawn or South Lawn, this is usually a non-issue. The spaces are distinct enough that it doesn’t feel intrusive. For portraits, I have spots I favor and a few I steer couples away from. Some are because of foot traffic, others because of the venue’s photo access rules. Having a photographer who knows the property makes a real difference here.
A Note on Budget
The venue’s wedding packages start at a significant investment. Most couples who book here are planning $100K+ celebrations, and that reality is worth naming plainly. The experience and the setting earn it, but going in with clear eyes about the overall budget makes the planning process much smoother.
Why It’s Worth It
I don’t think couples need much convincing once they’ve stood on that North Lawn and looked out at the lake. There’s something about Edgewood that doesn’t feel like it needs to work hard to impress you. The venue has a kind of confidence to it. The lake is there. The light does what it does. Together, they create a natural grandeur that most venues spend a lot of money trying to manufacture. Here, it’s already present before a single flower arrangement arrives.
What I love most about photographing weddings here is that the setting gives couples permission to be fully present. There’s not a lot of fussing or worrying about whether the backdrop looks good, because the backdrop is incredible and everyone knows it. Guests are relaxed. Couples are relaxed. The celebration has a specific energy I notice every time: a kind of ease that comes from being in a place that holds the weight of the day effortlessly. That ease is also a product of all the planning done ahead of time, so couples can walk into the day without carrying it.
If you’re considering Edgewood for your Lake Tahoe wedding and looking for a photographer who knows the property and loves shooting there, I’d love to hear about your plans.
Venue: Edgewood Tahoe | @edgewoodtahoe
Photography: Aubrey McCready Photography | @tahoephotographer
Planner: Allison Keasal Events | @allisonkeasalevents
Videography | @chair7films
Florist | @love_and_lupines
Officiant | @ceremonies_by_meredith
Rentals | @theaimcollection
Stationary | @allisonshodacreative
Linens | @bbjlatavola
HMU | @rahhairstudiotahoe
Entertainment | @musicintahoe
© Aubrey McCready Photography | photographybyaubrey.com | Lake Tahoe Wedding Photographer
