A Classic, Nautical Wedding at the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Virginia

Chad Atherton (25, a supervisor) and Elizabeth Graves (25, an environmental scientist) met while attending Virginia Tech. They were friends for a couple of years, and they began dating before graduation. They maintained a long-distance while Chad attended graduate school in Blackburg and Elizabeth worked in Virginia Beach. Before his graduation from his masters’ program, Chad took Elizabeth out to an overlook with a view of Virginia Tech’s campus and asked her to marry him. They decided to get married on June 14 because that was the day of Elizabeth’s grandparents’ wedding. They were married at the St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Chad’s hometown of Yorktown. Their reception was held at the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, with cocktail hour in the museum’s exhibit hall. Chad and Elizabeth’s navy and white color palette perfectly matched the nautical venue and they used fun combinations of stripes and polka dots to make the decor pop. Centerpieces included white lanterns and arrangements of white hydrangeas and sweet peas. Elizabeth wore family heirloom jewelry with her simple, trumpet-style Mikaella wedding dress. Her bridesmaids were dressed in knee-length Donna Morgan dresses in navy blue. The groomsmen wore navy polka dot ties with their Jos. A. Bank suits. Favors included customized candy bars and monogrammed drink koozies. Elizabeth and Chad’s nautical, museum wedding was beautifully executed with clean lines of navy and white.