A Nautical Wedding at the Texas Seaport Museum in Galveston, Texas

Kate Barger (21 and a dental assistant) and Andy Stone (21 and an agricultural equipment salesman) met through Kate’s sisters boyfriend while Kate was in the middle of moving from San Antonio to New Orleans. When Andy came to New Orleans to visit Kate, he took her across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway on his motorcycle to a campsite with a small creek where they enjoyed a picnic lunch and realized they were sitting next to their future. Exactly one year later, Andy brought Kate back to that creek and got down on one knee. With Kate’s family based in Louisiana and Andy’s in Texas, the couple chose to be married in Galveston, Texas aboard the 1877 tall ship Elissa, one of the oldest ships still sailing today. “The ship was just the right size to hold our family for the ceremony, and the dock was the perfect place for the reception,” says Kate. Growing up, Andy was a youth crew member on the ship for many years, so it had a lot of sentimental value to him. To match the nautical setting and the magnificence of the Elissa, the wedding color palette was navy and ivory. The bride and groom surprised everyone by adding a pop of red to their wardrobe to stand apart. Upon returning to the dock, guests enjoyed a buffet-style dinner and three tier wedding cake followed by dancing. “There was a little bit of us in the entire wedding, but my favorite element was having a New Orleans-style Second Line at our reception,” says the bride. She and her friends hand-stamped the couple’s initials on white handkerchiefs for guests to wave around during the Second Line and keep as a personalized wedding favor.