SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. – Once set to be on par with weddings in Las Vegas and Reno, Tahoe’s boom in weddings has slowed down—echoing the general downward trend in weddings.

Reverend Robert Orr has been doing weddings for 35 years in the Tahoe area. He, along with two others, started a wedding association in 1995 that operated on the south shore until about 2006. Along with others, like Rob McIntyre, who ran Chapel of the Bells, he says he did over 300 weddings a year.

A major reason why so many chapels got their start in the mid 1990s in Tahoe was because California decided to end the requirement for blood tests prior to 1995. Up until that point, standard marriage licenses needed a blood test, while confidential marriage licenses did not.

“Back in the day, we were going in that direction, on par with Reno and Vegas weddings due to the beauty of the lake,” said Orr. “At one point, the El Dorado County clerk said we were issuing almost as many marriage licenses as Reno.”

But a major part of the decline in weddings was due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “There were so many people calling and canceling at that time. I lost thousands of dollars,” said Orr. “We all started to see a slowing in business.”

Many chapels that were attached to hotels were no longer seeing profit, causing them to shutter. Sunray Hotel, Beach Resort and Inn and the Rodeway Inn shut down their chapels in response to that slowing business. Others, like Chapel of the Bells or Love’s Chapel on Kingsbury, experienced life circumstances like illness that made it impossible to keep running. Still others decided to convert to more profitable add-ons such as hotel gyms or conference spaces.

Nowadays, chapels in places like the Forest Suites Inn only see weddings through businesses like Orr’s. And businesses like the Lake Tahoe Honeymoon and Wedding Association are defunct, though the Tahoe Wedding Industry Group and Weddings of the West are still in operation.

El Dorado County clerk Catrina Christensen said she saw a drastic drop in marriage licenses after COVID-19. “There’s been a huge reduction in marriage licenses. There used to be tens of thousands in Tahoe, and now, there’s a couple hundred. And there isn’t a place where people can just drop in and get married any longer.”

Christensen also noted that in El Dorado County, they decided to end the program that allows confidential licenses to be signed by notaries—a process, she says, that has only been maintained in a few other counties in California.

“We discontinued the program in early 2025 because the inaccuracies on what we received were causing huge delays for us in terms of addressing them,” said Christensen. “Errors made on those forms were causing outsize impact for getting RealID or benefits.”

The county office in Tahoe only is open one day a week, the minimum amount needed. Christensen says that they are also open for remote marriage licensing or will open an additional day if they are booked out for three weeks—though it’s clear that’s not happening consistently enough to require having another day added to the schedule. Still, they offer in office ceremonies for an additional $40 on top of the $80 for a marriage license.

Back in 2006, there were 1,000 public marriage licenses issued and nearly 3,900 confidential licenses issued. By 2016, they were keeping pace at 1,020 public marriage licenses issued and 2,083 confidential licenses.

But last year’s numbers are testament to the drop. In 2025, 258 public marriage licenses were issued and only 32 confidential licenses were issued.

“It was tremendous 10 years ago,” said Kenny Halford, who has also been involved in the wedding industry in Tahoe as a photographer, videographer and in booking weddings. “But 2024 and 2025 were some of the worst years of business for me.”

Halford attributes some of that to a price hike. “This is a destination wedding location, but there are people looking for bargain weddings. They don’t want to pay thousands of dollars just to walk on a beach here.”

Another part of that, he says, is the change in Tahoe. “I definitely think some people may have decided on different destinations because Tahoe has changed so much. And the expense of things like hotel rooms, locations and permits is just not worth it for them.”

Halford noted that some of the places he used to book have now doubled or even tripled the prices, especially related to insurance costs. Orr said that he’s also seen a drop in international travel to Tahoe because of the expenses.

One thing Halford, Christensen and Orr all agreed on? People aren’t getting married as much as they used to.

“People are waiting until they are older to get married, if they get married at all,” said Christensen.

“Younger people are waiting or they just choose to cohabitate,” said Orr.

Christa Deane, a marriage celebrant who has been doing weddings for 27 years, says she has also seen a change in how people decide to do them. “I see a lot of micro-weddings or smaller, intimate gatherings, rather than the big celebrations people have had before.”

Deane, however, is game to bring more weddings back to the lake. After the closure of so many chapels in South Lake Tahoe, she decided to open Mountain High Chapel on the west shore.

Placer County, crucially, is one of the counties that has a program allowing notaries to submit confidential marriage licenses. Her chapel sits across from Obexer’s Boat Company and across the county line from El Dorado to Placer.

Unlike others, Deane decided to go all in on weddings during the pandemic. “I’ve always loved it, I love love. I’ve married people in hot air balloons, on skis or in the forests. I’ve poured my heart and soul into this.”

Halford says he thinks that weddings may go to the wayside as part of his business. It’ll probably be part-time rather than full-time. And I’m not necessarily interested in other ways of pursuing business.”

Orr, who works with Halford along with having his own business, said, “If the economy can change, we may see an uptick in weddings. I’m hoping and praying… but we probably won’t get back to the way it was in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s.”

Still, Orr has a soft spot in his heart, just like Deane. “Weddings are the fun thing I get to do.” He fondly recalled that he married a couple back in 1985, and ended up performing a wedding for their daughter and the grandmother. “I could write a book about everything. The laughter and the joy throughout the years, people fainting, dogs as best men. It’s the thing that keeps me going.”

“I really believe that weddings can bring mindful business to Tahoe,”said Deane, citing the need for a place to stay, entertainment and other wedding industry tie-ins like bouquets, cakes and outfits. “I have faith that it’s all going to work out. There’s just so much to do in Tahoe.”

“That’s the thing, there are so many beautiful places here,” said Orr. “People are always going to be getting married, so there will always be a need in that way.”