About the Cove at Shell Lake Venue and Owners
About Shell Lake
The Cove at Shell Lake wedding and event venue sits on ~25 acres surrounded by water with a breathtaking backdrop nestled in the Osage hills just 15 minutes from downtown Tulsa. Our venue is earthy, modern meets rustic, totally charming and has lots to offer with giant ancient oak, willow, and sycamore trees throughout the property. Shell Lake was created by Charles Page (Sand Springs Home) as a drinking reservoir for The City of Sand Springs in 1922. It resides on 573 acres and has a normal elevation of 725 feet with 11 miles of shoreline.
About The Cove at Shell Lake Owners |
David and Tiffany Quinn
Thanks for stopping by to learn more about us. We are a husband-and-wife team, high school sweethearts and hopeless romantics who have been married for over 16 years. So, you may be wondering, how did this all come about? Here’s our story…. In 2014, nine years into our marriage we were hit hard with words that no one ever wants to hear. You have cancer! At the age of 31 I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. We decided right then and there that we were going to be one of the lucky ones to survive this diagnosis and come out stronger (7-year survivor). When things like this happen, it puts life into perspective. David asked me, “if you could do whatever you wanted; what would you do?” My response, as you know I’ve always wanted to own a wedding venue. Then he proceeded to ask me, are you sure? I said, I love weddings! You get to be a part of the best day of people’s lives. They are happy, excited, in love and ready to start the biggest journey of their lives. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that! Next thing we knew, we sat out looking for “the perfect property” for a wedding venue. In 2018, we closed on our new adventure and have been full steam ahead ever since.
David “quit his job to support my wedding venue dreams full time”
David being an engineer by trade quit his job (OMG) in 2018 to support my wedding venue dreams full time. He first took on the A-frame bridal suite remodel, completely resurrecting it by gutting it down to the studs and completely re-designed the 1970 lake house to its former glory and beyond. Next up, he designed and built the custom whiskey barrel arbor that is used for the wedding party stage during ceremonies. Now in 2021, David has completed the custom-built Starr Pavilion that he designed. We are all about the environment and sustainability so much so that we used mostly local and recycled materials to create our 100-person pavilion. David was so creative in his design that we were able to harvest 60-year-old white and red oak trees that had been growing out of an old pond dam on the property. For maintenance reasons the trees were coming down to fix the dam, David was able to design them into our Pavilion so they would not go to waste (or fire wood) and live on for future generations.
As for me, during all these projects, I was a weekend warrior. I’m an accountant by trade so you guessed it; I accounted for all the projects :) and learned how to use power tools on the weekends. I can’t tell you enough how lucky I am to have such a supportive partner in life that will take my crazy dreams and turn them into a reality. We sincerely hope that everyone finds that one person that makes it all worth it!
Wedding Venues are a Labor of Love
Visit our You Tube Channel to see our video diary of the Cove at Shell Lake.
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