The New Wedding Trend We Believe In: Multi-Chapter Celebrations

Photography by Michael Grystenko. 

Sarah and Michael’s relationship has always lived at the intersection of unapologetic romance, artistic fashion, and community celebration, so a single day felt incomplete. Instead, we embraced a new wedding model we’ve watched emerge over the past decade in the wedding industry: multi-chapter weddings—where couples celebrate their love across multiple moments, locations, and experiences.

Chapter 1: Our Vegas Elopement

One night in Las Vegas, under the neon hum of the iconic Strip, wrapped in silver glitter boots, tulle explosions, and the kind of erotic glamour that feels straight out of a Helmut Newton fever dream, we began our wedding journey with an Elvis-officiated elopement at The Little White Chapel.

Not as an alternative to a “real” wedding, but as the opening act of a much bigger love story.

We were picked up from The Paris Hotel in a classic white stretch limo by our joyful driver, Cece from Bell Limousine. Our first stop was Frolic & Folly to pick up their custom vegan, gluten-free mini heart cake—swirled with icing ruffles and blasted with sparkles—before swinging by the airport to collect their favorite photographer, flown in from Austin, TX: Michael Grystenko, whose lens turned the night into a cinematic fever dream. Electric-blue limo LEDs against warm skin tones, red accents cutting through the frame, dynamic diagonals, and bodies moving in a sensual, editorial push-pull—she the flame, he the spark. The resulting images look less like wedding photos and more like spreads from Rolling Stone or Vogue Italia.

In true rebel fashion, the bride didn’t wear one veil — she wore three. One on her head, one as a trailing skirt, and a third she impulse-bought and clipped on just moments before their chapel ceremony. The look was equal parts couture chaos, rock-opera energy, and pure instinct — a visual thesis for the “more is more” model of love they believe in.

But none of this was rebellion.
It was expansion.

“We’re not rejecting the big wedding at all—we’re adding to it,” they explain. “You don’t have to choose anymore. You can have the intimate elopement, the full wedding, the vow renewal, the wild weekend with friends… all of it. Love deserves more than one expression.”

Their families felt this cultural shift firsthand. One moment stands out: when the bride’s mother went to the gym and was pressured by friends for “missing the wedding.”

“That’s the thing,” Mrs. Pavel says. “There’s still peer pressure to stay traditional. But our message is that nothing about celebrating love should be either-or. It doesn’t have to be a single day. It can be a whole era.”

As owners of Olympic Valley Stables—one of Lake Tahoe, California’s most beloved historic outdoor venues—the couple has watched wedding culture evolve for more than a decade. While many couples now spend $100k–$150k on a single wedding, Sarah and Michael began to notice a liberating truth: With the same investment, couples can have multiple celebrations, each with its own texture and magic.

Why Multi-Chapter Weddings Matter

A Vegas elopement  in our style can be done for roughly $2k.

A luxurious full celebration at a wedding venue near you can be planned for $50k and still feel wildly extravagant.

Add a honeymoon, a vow renewal, a private mountaintop ceremony… and there is room for so much more joy.

Our own upcoming 2026 celebration at Olympic Valley Stables will be the main chapter of their multi-chapter romance story

But even this is not the grand finale.
After their Stables celebration, they’ll host a playa ceremony at Dr. Bronner’s legacy camp Abraxus, in Burning Man—an elemental, dust-washed ritual honoring their artist community. And even that won’t be the last. They plan future vow renewals around the world, marking their marriage not with a single event, but with a lifetime of chapters.

The Vegas photos will serve as their main ceremony event invitations, setting the tone for love, mischief and celebration.

Our story is about giving yourself permission to celebrate love in every form it wants to take—loudly, softly, epically, repeatedly.

In the new era of weddings…

More is more.
Tradition is only the beginning.
And love above all deserves every chapter.

What We Learned as Venue Owners

Planning our own wedding reinforced something important:

Love doesn’t have to fit into one day.

Multi-day weddings allow:

• more time with guests in unique locations
• more fun, less stress on one moment
• more personalization
• more connection
• more love and joy

Planning Your Own Multi-Chapter Wedding?

If you’re considering multiple celebrations, the following top 6 venues can host you for under $50k in Lake Tahoe, California:

1. Olympic Valley Stables

2. Dancing Pines

3. The Chateau

4. North Tahoe Events Center

5. The Landing

6. Mountain High Weddings

So you have more money in your budget to plan more celebrations in other destinations.

Interested in planning your next multi-chapter wedding celebration? Book a discovery call with lead planner Sparkle By Sarah to get started on your own love story today.