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Info Galore

  • Cal Neva in the New York Times

    New York Times' Travel magazine did a photo feature on Tahoe. Check out photos of our wedding planner Sharon, and Cal Neva's Frank Sinatra Celebrity Showroom (and or originally planned ceremony site, Sand Harbor) in the New York Times by clicking this link.
    Added by Colleen on
    Sat, May 16th 2009
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  • Basic Wedding Info

    Welcome! So you got one of our homemade invites and now you need details. Here are some basics:

    Due to a snafu involving our ceremony site, we no longer plan to hold the ceremony at Sand Harbor Beach State Park.

    Both the ceremony and the reception will take place at Cal Neva resort, a former Rat Pack hangout once owned by Frank Sinatra. It's on the North Shore, on the border of California and Nevada (hence the name), and the state line goes right through our reception room. Reception will be held in the Indian Room and on the adjoining pool patio outside, overlooking Lake Tahoe.

    More options on where to stay below, but we have a block of rooms available at Cal Neva, where the reception is: Rooms are $129- 149 and suites are $ 249. These are available until a month before the wedding, 5/20/09. Call 800-CAL-NEVA and ask for the Kane/Grubbs wedding when reserving.

    You don't have to have a car there (there are shuttles from the airport) but you may need one or someone to bum a ride from if you want to go sightseeing or get to activities, which is highly recommended (see below for some activities). There are trolleys even if you don't have a car.

    Our address is:
    Tom Grubbs and Colleen Kane
    212 Hearthstone Drive
    Baton Rouge, LA

    If you need more info: Colleen's phone 917-697-7261, email is cokane@hotmail.com, and Tom's phone is 347-563-3048, and email is tomgrubbs1@gmail.com. (The groom knows Tahoe much better than the bride.)

    If you are RSVP'ing yes to the Tahoe events, or want to be kept in the loop for our informal East Coast celebration, please leave us your email address when you RSVP. Thanks!
    Added by Colleen on
    Fri, Jan 9th 2009
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  • Where to Stay?

    A few links to get you started

    Our plans are on the North Shore, so make sure your accommodation is there and not the South Shore. (You wouldn't want to negotiate those winding mountain roads after having a few beverages at the reception.) The town the ceremony and reception are in is Crystal Bay.

    We have a block of rooms at Cal Neva available for reservation until May 20th. Phone is 800.CAL.NEVA, ask for the Kane Grubbs wedding block, rooms from $129-$149, suites more.

    The cheapest hotel accommodation we've heard about so far is in Reno, one guest got a room for under $40.

    We recommend using Trip Advisor to research other hotels and motels. It has user reviews and ratings that are helpful in making your decision. We used this site while traveling around Europe and it helped us find good deals and dodge a few bullets.

    Groups who want to stay together can search for vacation rental cabins, houses, and condos here and here and here (there's more sites if you Google around). We were also very successful when traveling in Europe last summer using craigslist.org. We suggest you take a look as the prices range anywhere from $80 -$750 a night and can accomodate anwhere from 4- 25 people respectively. The prices may go down a bit during the summer as larger groups are not as frequent as they are during the winter for the skiing crowds.

    Information about Tahoe campgrounds can be found here and here, for starters.
    Added by Colleen on
    Sun, Nov 16th 2008
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  • Praise from the Past

    The Invitation Postcards Speak

    The invitation you received is a revamped vintage postcard. Some were previously used, some had never been mailed,some are the more sought-after linen cards, and some of them are as old as 1904, possibly even older. Many of the pre-used cards were previously mailed to points in California, but a few were originally addressed to familiar places like Westport, CT, and East Orange, NJ.

    So don't take our word for it about Tahoe; here are some highlights from the pre-used cards:

    "Boy! Is the lake water blue!" Frank Mudgett, 1944

    "Beautiful country up here among the celebrities...L. Welk is here playing but can't get in to see him reservations are so heavy." Genivieve, 1964

    "Eunice & Hugh, we wished for you two here where we had a cabin that had such wonderful views of the lake & with full moon by night and heavenly sunshine by day, we had one of our most restful vacations." Ellen, 1957

    "...the drip pan of the Sierra Glacier ice box." !?- Postcard text

    "No trout yet." Bob Wilbur, 1947

    "We have seen hundreds of sheep and as many cows and a few dogs who were not as nice as Rex." Auntie Elsa and Uncle Fred, 1918

    "Water so clear you can see the bottom near shore, then from hale green on through shades of blue until it reaches a deep purple." Ann, 1960

    "This is a wonderfully beautiful place...only wish I could remain a month." Rita M. Moore, 1909

    "We watched an exciting speed-boat race this morning. The weather is perfect." Margaret, 192?

    "I'm having a fine time up here. Swimming every day and dancing every night." Fran, 1934

    "Science has decreed that we are to have an ultra-violet ray, which will not only diffuse a soft-light, but will furnish all patrons with a health-giving sun-bath. Oh! What a wonderful future." Auntie Fau, 1945 (No idea what she was on about, but the postcard was from Tahoe.)

    "The nights are a little sharp, but I don't mind." Auntie Fau

    "Tried luck at 'one-armed bandits'--Bill lucky." Ruth, 1962

    "The scenery sure is pretty here." Edyth and Melvin, 1936

    "Having a glorious time, riding, swimming boating and driving around this beautiful country." Judy, 1959

    "We saw a gorgeous sunset on the way home-- an artist's or photographer's dream." Frank and Mary Jane, 1967






    Added by Colleen on
    Sun, Oct 26th 2008
    2 comment(s)

  • How Can We Get There?

    You can fly into Reno (40 mins away), Sacramento (1hr 45mins) or San Francisco (about a 3-1/2 hour drive from the North Shore). Every time I've checked, Sacramento is the cheapest option, so that's what we took on our recent trip to Tahoe.

    Many of our guests will be flying from the NY/NJ/CT area, so I've been watching the flights. The prices fluctuate, for example about a week and a half ago the best deals I found using Kayak.com were about $350 from Newark and JFK to Sacramento. Now the lowest price is about $80 more than that. I'm sure it will continue to keep changing. Kayak lets you set up saved searches that they email fares to you, so you can strike when the price is the lowest.

    From the airport, you can rent a car or take a shuttle.
    North Lake Tahoe Express services the Reno airport and it's about $35 one way, less with a group.
    Here's another shuttle resource which also serves the Sacramento airport.
    Other transportation options, including trains, taxis, and shuttles, here.

    Added by Colleen on
    Tue, Oct 14th 2008
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  • Why Lake Tahoe?


    Image and video hosting by TinyPic

    We realize not everyone can afford to travel in this economic climate, but we hope you can join us and see how incredibly beautiful this place is. America's largest alpine lake has been crowned the #1 Destination in the U.S. by TripAdvisor.

    Sure, we could have had our wedding in the state where we're living, Louisiana, but New Orleans is only the #6 U.S. destination on that TripAdvisor list. Also, Louisiana in the summer = Hell No. NY, NJ or CT would have worked if we were prepared to drop the now-standard 25-30K on one day (again, Hell to the No) or hold our wedding at a campground, so either way a nontraditional wedding was in order.

    This way it will be smaller, but still memorable and gorgeous.

    Tom used to live in Tahoe for a few years and was always telling me how beautiful it was; I finally got to see what he was talking about when we visited in October.

    Added by Colleen on
    Tue, Oct 14th 2008
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  • Green Wedding?

    What's so earth-friendly about flying to a wedding?

    Excellent point, subtitle! Our family and friends are scattered around the country: Northeast, PA, FL, LA, TX, CA. People would have had to fly to our wedding no matter where it was held, and many more would have driven to our wedding if it took place on the East Coast. There would be considerable carbon emissions no matter what. But here are some ways we're tryign to reduce the footprint of our event. You may remember we also entered a contest for people planning green weddings to win free wedding photography from the very talented Kristina Carter at Vrai, and we won!


    • Vintage postcard invites instead of the traditional multiple-cards-within-envelopes-within cards-plus-tissue-paper scenario
    • Guests will receive DIY carbon offsets, and we are going to plant trees on our friends' property while we're there.
    • Some favors are organic, ethically-traded, and a portion of their cost goes to protect species, habitat and humanity.
    • If you purchase flights, rental cars, hotel rooms, or goods using the online portal Earth Moment, which links to Kayak.com (where you can purchase discount flights), common car rental services, etc., they donate a small percentage to carbon offsetting. I haven't had much luck with my account when I tried it, but maybe you'll have more luck.
    • The bride's engagement ring originally belonged to Tom's grandmother Edna "Teddie" Shoaf.
    • The bride will wear a vintage dress, vintage shoes, and hopefully some vintage accessories.
    • Bridesmaids are choosing dresses they will wear again.
    • Rehearsal dinner will be held at Mamasake, a Cal-Asian sushi restaurant, which uses an eco-friendly fish supplier, uses organic ingredients when available, and offers numerous vegetarian and vegan choices.
    • Reception food: some of it will be organic & local with quality veg options
    • Most flowers for events are grown somewhere far away like South America, then shipped using fossil fuels, which isn't very eco-friendly considering we're talking about plants. We're looking into local organically-grown options for the bouquet.
    • We're choosing sustainable items for the registry.
    Added by Colleen on
    Tue, Sep 16th 2008
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  • Activities at and around Lake Tahoe

    Pretty much any activity you can outdoors, you can do at Tahoe: mountain biking, hiking, kayaking, Jetski, camping, fishing, golf, waterskiing and wake boarding, ice skating, sailiing, powerboating or paddle boating, and gentle tubing or extreeeeme white water rafting. For the less active there's plenty of sightseeing, cruises, and gambling.

    Mountain Biking: Multiple options. In the summertime the locals hang up their skis and boards and tune up their mountain bikes for the summer. There are trails everywhere for all levels of rider. We also really recommend checking out the various ski mountains that offer summer mountain biking on their trails. You ride the chairlift to the top and then are able to decide what kind of ride you want by deciding which trail to attack, Easiest, More Difficult or Most Difficult.

    River Rafting on the Truckee River

    Ride the Heavenly gondola up to Tom's former workplace for breathtaking views of the lake, Carson Valley and Desolation Wilderness.

    This looks terrifying and awesome: The Heavenly Flyer, "a high speed adventure ride, located at the top of the gondola"--looks like they stratp you into a seat and you take a zip line down the mountain.

    Parasailing


    Image and video hosting by TinyPic

    Visit the famous Emerald Bay, site of the only island on the lake, and Vikingsholm Castle, a Scandinavian home built in the 20s. You can ride a steamship, the M.S. Dixie around Emerald Bay...go for the sunset cruise, one of Tahoe's greatest offerings in the summertime if at all possible.

    Visit Donner Memorial State Park: I'm pretty much listing this exclusively for the benefit of my dad, Mr. Bob Kane. The tragedy of the Donner Party has been familiar to my brother Sean and I from youth, as this was a favorite morbid tale for my dad to bring up at dinner. He was probably trying to convince me to eat my vegetables.

    Tour grand old homes at the Tallac Historic Site, or visit the Hellman-Ehrman Mansion.

    Visit the Virginia & Truckee Railroad historic Comstock mining district.
    Added by Colleen on
    Tue, Sep 16th 2008
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