A Vegas-style wedding chapel is opening in Richmond

Lucky in Love, a Vegas-style wedding chapel, is opening in Richmond next month.
Why it matters: The downtown chapel will offer all-inclusive same-day weddings and elopements, plus planned micro-weddings — all for a fraction of the cost of a traditional wedding.
The big picture: Chapel co-owner and licensed wedding officiant Tia Ballard is on a mission to give local couples their perfect day, regardless of their budget, she tells Axios.
As a former teacher, Ballard saw firsthand how important strong families were for student success, so she decided to get ordained so she could help create them.
"I wanted to build stronger communities this way — by marrying people," she tells Axios.
That was four years ago. Since then, she's married more than 500 couples and now does it full time. Elopements are her specialty, but she's done " quickies at Common House," microweddings at local breweries and knot-tying in the woods.
Now, with Lucky in Love, she'll "have a home base" and an opportunity to give even more local couples a stress-free, budget-conscious wedding.
State of play: The team — Ballard and co-owners Savannah Manzie, a cosmetic artist, and Kasie Murphy, a wedding planner — is in the process of decking out the chapel at 402 E. Grace St. in red and pink with a vintage flair (think velvet curtains and crystal chandeliers).
Lucky in Love will only handle the ceremony portion. For any festivities involving food and beverages, they recommend walking a few doors down to Wong Gonzalez, Lillie Pearl, Julep's or Rappahannock.
Ballard says she wants to complement the existing businesses, not compete with them.
The chapel has space for around 20 guests, plus the happy couple, who just need to get their marriage license from the courthouse in advance. Lucky in Love will handle the rest.
Zoom in: Couples can choose from three packages:
The "Virginia is for Elopers," which gets you "in and out" and legally married in 30 minutes.
The second tier, "Picture Perfect Couple," includes an hour in the chapel and a photographer, with optional flower add-ons from partners Yarrow or Vogue.
And "The Jackpot" package includes everything, plus a cake from Pearl Bake Shopee and a sparkling cider toast.
By the numbers: Lucky in Love packages start at around $550 for the elopement and top out at $2,500.
That's far less than the average cost of a wedding in the U.S. this year, which, according to The Knot, is around $33,000, Axios' Sami Sparber reports — and couples are bracing for pricier weddings following President Trump's tariffs.
What they're saying: "People are caring less about tradition. [Couples today] are prioritizing home ownership over big weddings," Ballard tells Axios.
What's next: Lucky in Love will open on Friday, June 13.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Yahoo

3 hours ago

• Yahoo

ERCOT CEO on summer preps, artificial intelligence stressing grid

The Brief The head of ERCOT, Pablo Vegas, expressed confidence that the Texas power grid will have enough supply to meet demand this summer, despite a gloomy forecast in February. Vegas stated that over 3,000 power plant and transmission substation inspections have been conducted since issues during the 2021 winter storm, showing facilities are prepared for peak summer heat. While acknowledging a focus on natural gas by lawmakers, Vegas noted the significant growth of solar, wind, and battery storage, and highlighted new legislation (SB 6) requiring data centers to use on-site backup generation during grid emergencies as a "game-changer" for future reliability. AUSTIN - The head of ERCOT says the grid will have enough power supply to meet demand this summer. The outlook comes after a gloomy report in February that warned of a fast-approaching power shortage. What they're saying ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas spoke with FOX 7's Rudy Koski about the positive outlook and why his optimism goes beyond the summer months. Vegas: "We do have enough power. The grid is ready for that. We've been doing our inspections for the summer season. Some people may not know, but we actually inspect the power plants and the transmission substations in the winter and the summer both. So we want to make sure that they're ready to run in the peak heat and the peak cold and so we've done over 3,000 inspections since this program started. That was something that came out of Winter Storm Uri, a new formal program that ERCOT administers and the inspections are showing that the operators are taking this very seriously, that they're readying their power facilities in order to be able to operate during the peak summer heat." Koski: "We heard all about how the Texas power plants are really built for the hot Texas summer, but with that said, and with those inspections, any problems? Any issues that you saw that you say, I have to address this?" Vegas: "I can tell you there's been nothing significant or concerning that makes me think this is going to be a problem, [or that] we're not going to be able to deal with this summer." Koski: "We just wrapped up the legislative session and state lawmakers really put an emphasis on natural gas plants. But we do know that solar and wind have played a big role in getting us through some peak periods and times. Are you happy in how this new triplet-type situation is merging together and then throwing in batteries?" Vegas: "What we're finding is that each of the different supply resources, whether it's wind or solar, whether it's the traditional gas, nuclear, coal, or the brand new batteries that we're starting to see quite a lot of growth on in our system, all of them are bringing something unique to the game." Koski: "Are you worried that lawmakers are a little bit too focused on natural gas? Are you worried about that kind of rhetoric?" Vegas: "No, because I think what's really underlying it is a desire for balance. We've seen predominantly, almost limited to, wind and solar and batteries growing on the ERCOT grid over the last five years, and very little natural gas. I think legislators and policymakers are concerned about this imbalance for the long term." Koski: "You mentioned the growth of back in February, ERCOT caused a little bit of a stir by saying power demand could nearly double by 2030, supply could fall short by 6% by the summer of 2026 and then there would be an even wider gap in 2029. Does that report still hold?" Vegas: "The core growth story is still the same. So we still expect tremendous economic growth. A lot of it is driven by data centers. You've heard the discussions about artificial intelligence and the amount of energy demand that that uses. That continues to be at the center of the focus and the center of the story. However, the legislature made some really important changes during this last session. They passed a bill called Senate Bill 6. And what Senate Bill 6 did is it kind of defined the rules of the road for how data centers would perform and operate in the ERCOT grid. And one of the key requirements is that data centers, which happen to be built, they all are built with backup generation on site. Those backup generation facilities, if the grid were to get into an emergency condition and be very scarce, those data centers would come off of the grid and use their backup generation. That's now put into law. And that's something that is a game-changer when it comes to reliability. And so that provision, once implemented, is going to, I think, pave the pathway for safe growth on the data center side. And that going to really change the picture of that forecast. I think it's going to change the reliability and improve the numbers when we do our next update." Koski: "Are you confident that the [local power providers] are ready for the summer?" Vegas: "I think there were a lot of lessons learned, Rudy. A lot of lesson learned as to how to do better, how to communicate better, how to prepare better, how to manage vegetation better, how to stage people when there is an issue and respond more quickly. I saw a lot of lessons learned and come out of the experiences from last summer and I do believe that our utility partners are ready for the summer weather ahead of us." The Source Information in this article comes from FOX 7's Rudy Koski's interview with ERCOT CEO Pablo Vegas.

Business Insider

13 hours ago

• Business Insider

Tesla officially launches robotaxis in Austin to a small group of users, charging a $4.20 flat fee per ride

On a balmy Sunday in Austin, Tesla fans awaited the promise of the future. After a few hours of delays, that promise finally came true, and a select group took their first rides, livestreaming their experience. While Tesla robotaxis are meant to be fully autonomous, Tesla employees were still present in the passenger seat of the cars for safety reasons. Earlier this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk teased the launch of the robotaxi, a driverless Tesla Model Y emblazoned with its namesake in Cybertruck-style font. "Beautifully simple design," Musk wrote on X. "These are unmodified Tesla cars coming straight from the factory, meaning that every Tesla coming out of our factories is capable of unsupervised self-driving," he added. On Sunday, Musk said the first Tesla robotaxi rides would be available for a flat fee of $4.20. A small group of invited users was the first to try them out. Tesla fans buzzed on social media in the lead-up to the official launch, which was initially delayed as users awaited the release of the official Tesla robotaxi app. "We are approaching the window where we expected to have the app and showing everything," Chuck Cook, one of the early invitees to try the Tesla robotaxi, said on X. "There looks like there will be a small delay in the distribution of the app for couple hours." Tesla AI, the division behind the robotaxis, said Sunday on X that Tesla robotaxis will eventually be deployed anywhere they are approved and are designed for "scalability." "It does not require expensive, specialized equipment or extensive mapping of service areas. It just works," the company said. The company launched a website where users can sign up for early access when the service becomes available in their area. It also launched an X feed dedicated to Tesla robotaxis. With the launch of Tesla robotaxis, Austin continued to solidify itself as a new theater for Silicon Valley's race to shape the new age of driverless transportation. In March, Google-backed Waymo launched its autonomous ride-hailing service in partnership with Uber. Waabi, a Canadian startup backed by Uber and Nvidia, is set to launch fully autonomous trucks in Texas this year. Zoox, backed by Amazon, opened its first robotaxi serial production facility in Austin last week. This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Axios

3 days ago

• Axios

Exclusive: Google wants to help cities build AI strategies

Google is releasing a playbook on Friday to help mayors across the country adopt city-wide AI strategies, per an announcement shared exclusively with Axios. Why it matters: Cities are approaching the technology wildly differently and with varying levels of resources, interest and need. But the "AI divide" — like the "digital divide" that came before it with internet access — is projected to deepen tech access disparities. "Building Your City's AI Strategy," released in partnership with the United States Conference of Mayors, is meant to serve as a framework for mayors and other municipal leaders to assess and implement AI. What's inside: The guide has chapters on identifying staff to participate in an "AI workshop," conducting surveys on AI usage and needs, and drafting an AI strategy document. The survey asks questions like how staff are currently using AI tools and which areas of city services could use AI the most. The guide states that AI offers cities "significant advantages" and "can automate certain tasks while freeing up city staff for complex, human-centric work." What they're saying: "Whatever problem you've been dealing with that you've inherited from your predecessors, that you can't figure out the way to fix, AI is the once in a generation tool that gives you a shot at fixing it," Cris Turner, vice president of government affairs at Google, told Axios. By the numbers: 96% of 100 mayors across the globe surveyed by Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2023 said they were interested in using generative AI, but only 2% surveyed were actively implementing it and 69% said they were exploring it. The bottom line: Companies like Google depend on people using their generative AI products for profit. But more users help the models get better, Turner noted.