Stephen Cravey (’23) and Savannah Chastain (’24) didn’t just study history — they became part of it. On a quiet June 2025 afternoon, the couple stood before a fossilized mosasaur and exchanged vows at the Georgia Southern Museum.
The Museum is where they first deepened their connection, transforming the institution from a place of learning into one of lifelong memories.
The couple met during their first semester in the public history graduate program at Georgia Southern University. Later, Chastain took a job at the Museum where Cravey was already working as a graduate assistant.
“It wasn’t the goal to fall in love,” Chastain laughed, recalling how their relationship unfolded quickly after she was hired. “But once we figured out we liked each other, that was it.”
Before they knew it, their relationship had endured the rigors of grad school, working together and a ceremony held right in front of the Museum’s centerpiece fossil.
In the days leading up to the ceremony, the two Eagle lovebirds were found decorating a small room inside the Museum for their reception. Eighteen plates were set around a circle of closely placed tables. Even Cravey said the process was an emotional one.
“We wanted a small wedding with just a few people,” he said. “It was kind of a perfect place. We started working here together, and we have a lot of good memories here.”
Small in scale, but rich in meaning.
“This place might as well be home,” Chastain added. “We have spent so much time here. Even if we weren’t getting married here, the people who work here would be on our guest list. That’s just the relationship we have here. I think that’s something that’s really beautiful and unique about the museum too.”
For the self-described Type-A bride, the details mattered just as much as the setting. Chastain handmade most of the decorations.
And the personal touches didn’t stop at the ceremony decor. Just outside the wedding space, museum guests could view “Emerging Freedom,” an exhibit curated by Chastain herself while she was a student.
“It’s really cool for me to be able to bring my family and my friends here and see not only me get married and do something like personally achieving, but also have that professional achievement literally in the next room,” she said.
Cravey, more understated, spoke to the emotional ease that came with celebrating such a major event in a familiar and meaningful place.
“Georgia Southern’s going to mean a lot, because this is where we met and this is where we got married,” he said. “It’s going to be a part of our history.”
There’s even a running joke among the faculty that the public history program is Georgia Southern’s unofficial matchmaking service, especially for classes taught by Associate Professor Michael Van Wagenen, Ph.D.
“Van Wagenen said the public history program is basically Tinder,” Chastain joked. “He’s counting marriages. We’re number seven.”
The pair isn’t quite done with academia. Chastain, who took her husband’s name of Cravey, is pursuing her Ph.D. at George Mason University. Their hearts, however, are clearly rooted in Statesboro.
