It was around this time in 1931 that he married the love of his life, Fern Renner. The couple would have two daughters, Shirley and Donna, and a son, Larry Jr.
During the "Dirty Thirties," his band began to take shape, especially on one faithful night in 1938 at the William Penn Hotel in Pittsburgh where the name "Champagne Music" came into being because a patron described Welk's music as being "light and bubbly like champagne."
In 1939, Lawrence hired Lois Best as his first full-time "Champagne Lady" and a year later, booked his orchestra for a long term engagement at the Trianon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois, which lasted nine years. Throughout World War II, Lawrence added many young and talented members to his orchestra, such as Jerry Burke on organ, trombonist Barney Liddell, Orie Amodeo on reeds, trumpet players Norman Bailey and Rocky Rockwell, Johnny Klein on drums, vocalist/saxophone player Dick Dale and accordionist Myron Floren who would also be the Maestro's trusted right hand man, serving as both orchestra announcer and conductor.
In 1951, Lawrence and his band set out for an engagement at the Aragon Ballroom in Santa Monica, California, and liked it there so much that soon enough, they stayed and called the West Coast their home. While performing at the Aragon, local Los Angeles televison station KTLA began live remote broadcasts of Welk's shows from the ballroom on Saturday nights. They became a local ratings smash, which made the possibility of going national a matter of not if, but when.