HAPPY HALLOWEEN!! Stephanie and I are shooting a wedding today, and we’re quite excited about it! There’s promise of lots of fun details, a super sweet couple, and a photo booth – so this will be a blast! In the meantime…today I’m excited to introduce you to a fantabulous someone!

I’m gathering quite the page of kick ass vendors/inspiration*. These are people in the industry that not only would you hire for your special day, but you can just as easily sit down with and have a beer (or coffee). And since Hi-Fi is all about the tunes in our lives, we’re gonna get to know what these peeps dig on musically.

Everything home grown is better…don’t you agree? Darling dearRachel hails from Rocket City, USA (Huntsville) like me! It’s wonderful coming across such awesome talent right here in sweet home Alabama. I’m stoked that she will be a part of the Hi-Fi Weddings Fest…I know she’ll blow away the brides and grooms with her fantastic design work. Plus, her addictive smile is radiant – and she’s such a sweet soul!

Can you describe your life (so far) in 3-5 songs?
Childhood: “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” I was the most happy, anxious OCD child you’d ever meet. It took years for people to convince me that socks are interchangeable; I was absolutely convinced there is a right and left sock and had to switch them back and forth from foot to foot until it felt right. But dammit if I didn’t do it with a smile.

Teen Years: “Circle of Friends” by Edie Brickell. Not surprisingly, considering the previous remarks, I had a little trouble fitting in during my teen years. I was angsty, lonely and loved Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. I had my first romance with a fellow, angsty musician who wore a chain and played in punk band called Cushion. We were all angry together, wore lots of black and smoked a crapload of cigarettes. Many a bad poem was written, as well. We turned out alright, though, and went our separate ways. I became a designer and he went on to become a member of a band called Old Crow Medicine Show, which plays awesome music that has more in common with punk than you might initially think.

College/Twenties: Song II/Woohoo by Blur. I picked this song for several reasons, one of which is that it’s by Blur, which is what most of my early twenties were. I enjoyed partying and college, in that order. September 11 messed with my rosy notions of humanity and sent me straight to a shrink. My twenties weren’t easy but, as the song goes “nothing is.” I emerged relatively unscathed with the only casualty being my blond hair: I went brunette and have never looked back.

Current: Wagonwheel by none other than the aforementioned OCMS. My husband and I are biding our time, just waiting until we can get back home to the “South” again. We’re both from the south, met in the South and married in the South but fell in love during a hiatus far away from home. This song always has a nostalgic southern feel that warms me up. It gets damn cold up here.

What is your favorite love song?
Never My Love by The Association (though I think they were covering it). I never get sick of it.

If you could go see anyone perform live who would it be?

I saw Against Me! perform a long time ago in Nashville and that was one of the best hows I’ve been to. But to see *anyone* perform live, it’d have to be Nina Simone in a dark, smoky bar. During a thunderstorm.

What is your preferred format of music?
I’m an MP3 kind of girl, though I want to be a vinyl kind of girl. I’m just too mobile and impatient.

Are you a musician? If so, what do you play? If not, what would you play?
I started playing the guitar in 6th grade, but quit after a year and a half, so now I can pretty much only play power chords. I cannot play B minor to save my life. My fingers just will not do it, which really holds me back when I’m trying to jam and sing at the top of my lungs when my husband is gone. It’s a guilty pleasure: I go into our bathroom (acoustics, baby!) and play and sing as loudly and badly as I want. My current favorite is House of the Rising Sun. If anyone ever heard me they’d laugh. Or cry. Neither in a good way.

*Do you know someone who should be on the vendor/inspiration page? Just email me and let’s chat!