An Airy, Sophisticated Wedding at the Woman's Club of Portsmouth, Virginia

Beth Arnette (31 and a jewelry designer) and Nathan Gabriele (31 and an industrial designer) grew up in the same town and went to the same schools in Virginia, but their paths never crossed. They both moved to Brooklyn, but they didn’t meet there, either. One Christmas, they both returned to visit their families in Virginia, and it was then that they finally met through mutual friends. They stayed in touch when they returned to New York and fell in love as they grew closer. Beth says she wasn’t surprised by the engagement. “We had been talking about it for a while, especially since we were considering moving to Europe together.” She showed Nate exactly which antique ring she wanted, but he made her wait a month before finally proposing. Nate and Beth wanted to get married near their hometowns, so they enlisted the help of the mother of the bride to help find venues. She found the Woman’s Club of Portsmouth, which had a recently renovated hall with cathedral ceilings and chandeliers. Nate and Beth decided on a dark, charcoal gray as their base color, with pale peach and pink accents and metallic touches. The accents were represented the flower arrangements, which were beautiful displays of ranunculuses, roses, dahlias, lilies delphiniums and dusty miller. Wedding party photos were taken in the old town section of Portsmouth, and featured the house where the bride's great-grandfather used to live. This wedding was truly a gathering of loved ones, especially since it happened right before the couple moved to Amsterdam. Beth says, “I cannot put into words how special it was to have so many people I hold so close to my heart in one room.”