Jessica and Jeff met while working together in radio, and became fast friends, with a shared passion for the power of a song, the “Nashville goose bumps” when a song hits its mark, and the magic of a melody! They spent countless hours discovering, promoting and presenting some of the hottest names in country on stage and on the radio in front of thousands in Jacksonville, before life took them in slightly separate directions, her off to Nashville radio and him into the world of record promotion. It was only a matter of time before these two were drawn back together, just a year to be exact, when they discovered an even sweeter song and they fell hopelessly in love. They will say “I do” on a rooftop in the heart of Music City, and write the chorus of their own perfect love song together!

And here’s a list of some of their favorite songs:

Belongs to You – Emerson Drive
Unbelievable – Josh Gracin
Ready to Love You Now – Bluefield
Livin Our Love Song – Jason Michael Carroll
Make You Mine – Crossin Dixon
Lucky Man – Emerson Drive

The first one in particular is special to us, especially the line “Anything that’s good in me, all I ever hope to be, every drop of every dream, belongs to you.”

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Photos: Gwendolyn Tundermann

Click to listen, right click “save as” to download:
Nobunny – (Do the) Fuck Yourself

I have been waiting for the new Nobunny album for a while now! It doesn’t officially drop until next week, but thank the record gods for promo copies! Nobunny isn’t the most romantic out of the bunch – but this song IS about love…ing yourself! You know, before the beau was around how you had to “take care of business”. Yeah, it’s a song about that. An AWESOME song about that! So crank it y’all and happy Tuesday!!

Still hankering for more?! Check out all of the past Tuesdays!

I love to discover awesome weddings in my home state! Alabama is quite lovely, and we don’t all drive around tractors – unless we’re lucky (yes, I’d love to own a farm one day)! Memory and Jacob’s wedding took place in the tiny town of Mooresville, Alabama. With the natural and rustic elements in place, these two added a few personal touches to really make the day theirs!

The Craig Duncan Orchestra, out of Nashville, Tennessee, played at our wedding. I asked Mr. Duncan to start us off with some big band goldies that my grandparents would enjoy. So, after they played “My Girl” for my father and I and “Just the Way You Are” for Jacob and I, they started off with the Dave Brubeck classic, Take 5 and moved into other classics like “Take the A Train” and “Route 66”. Jacob and his mother danced to an amazing rendition of Petulia Clark’s “Downtown” and that really helped kick off the party! Highlights for me were: Sweet Home Alabama, Stand By Me, and Mony Mony by Tommy James & the Shondells. Jacob and I fought over this choice. I wanted it, he didn’t, but he conceded and I’m glad he did. Such a fun dancing song!!! The stand-out for me was the “Dixie Land Delight” that they played just before our send-off: Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me”!

Photography: Stephen DeVries

I’m gathering quite the page of kick ass vendors/inspiration sites*. These are people in the industry that not only would you draw inspiration from 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.

Caroline, dear Caroline, is another photographer who is just as kickass as her images! You can tell form the candid shots she captures of two lovebirds that she’s always there at the right time. Her energy and passion for her work is clear in every single photograph and it’s been an absolute joy featuring her on Hi-Fi and getting to know the lady behind the lens!

Can you describe your life (so far) in 3-5 songs?
Neil Diamond “Sweet Caroline” // because it brings back so many memories growing up, people like to sing it to me, and because my dad and I danced to it at my wedding
Derek Webb “Wedding Dress” // because it’s the perfect way to explain my faith. this song is full of raw honesty, emotion, and truth.
Ray Lamontagne “Hold you in my arms” // because it’s what my husband and I danced to at our wedding
Salt N Pepa “Push It” // because it’s one of my favorite songs to dance to, and i’m a dancing machine. as they say in the song “this dance ain’t for everybody, only the sexy people”

What is your favorite love song?
U2 “With or Without You” // because it’s my all time favorite song and because I once read Bono describe the lyrics romantic intention by saying “There’s nothing more revolutionary than two people loving each other. One, ’cause it’s so uncommon these days, and two, ’cause it’s so difficult to do.” TRUTH!

If you could go see anyone perform live who would it be?
U2 performing all songs from Joshua Tree, Rattle and Hum, and a few scattered from the last 5 years. And maybe Sigur Ros could open for them. It would be best night of all time and I would cry during every song.

What is your preferred format of music?
Mp3 because it fits in my pocket. And I’m a sucker for Shuffle!

Are you a musician? If so, what do you play? If not, what would you play?
I can play guitar pretty well but sing pretty awful. I’m planning on teaching myself piano in the fall 🙂

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

Unless you’re allergic to grass, we all enjoy a frolic in a field! It’s wonderful when two lovebirds have such a serene surrounding to be themselves. Add a picnic, vintage rocker, and a lemonade prop, and you’re lookin’ at David and Kristen’s awesome e-sesh with Matt Miller! The couple included this bit about music to go along with the visuals:

Much like the wedding itself our playlist for the big day is still a work in progress, so it only seems fair to pair the inevitable top ten with our engagement photos as we’ve no doubt that any – and quite possibly all – of these tunes played no small role in helping to create the images before you. Why, you ask? Well, improvised picnics aren’t simply lemonade fueled; they also draw on history of living-room dancing and other assorted shenanigans we find ourselves in daily – all set to rhythm courtesy of our own personal soundtrack. This is that:

1. Off by Heart – City & Colour
2. Tulips – Bloc Party
3. Love Song – The Cure
4. Stand by Me – Ben E. King
5. By my Side – Ignite
6. Head Over Heels – Tears for Fears
7. Lifeboats – Snow Patrol
8. Handle With Care – Traveling Wilbury’s
9. Never Tear us Apart – INXS
10. Lover’s Rock – Sade

Photos By: Matt Miller with Our Labor of Love

I was thrilled to get permission to share this wedding. For all of you wrapped up in the stress of planning, maybe this wedding story will help you calm down, take a deep breath, and realize how lucky you are. Life is full of road bumps, some just leave minor damages to your car. Other bumps can totally jolt and change the pace of life. This story brought tears to my eyes and proved faith in humanity. The talented photographer, Brooke, shares some words to accompany her gorgeous photos:

Sarah and Eric’s wedding was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to.

This title is completely true in every sense and I have never seen a wedding in my entire life that was more beautiful (and I go to a lot!). Sarah and Eric had a wedding scheduled later this year in November but decided to bump it up after receiving news that Sarah’s cancer had returned. Earlier this year she found out she had Extraskeletal Ewing’s Sarcoma/PNET. This type of cancer is known to affect the bones but thankfully she was all clear after removing the key lime sized tumor found on her arm. On August 13th, she found out that the previous bout with cancer (that was gone) has returned on her lungs. Instead of going through chemo with a fiance, she wanted to go through this walk with a husband. Sarah’s church community made a couple of calls and her wedding was planned in less than 24 hours! There was a cake, flowers, friends, family and music; it was a full on wedding!

What took place on Sunday was a beautiful act and reminded me that this is the perfect example of what a wedding should be about. There was no fluff and it was completely true to what every wedding should be about! It encourages me to live life day to day and relish every moment as if it was my last.

A day after her wedding she had a PET scan to determine if the cancer was only on her lungs. The worst news hit that the cancer had now spread to the bones (hip and pelvis area). Sarah and Eric are surrounded by amazing friends and family during this hard time.

I don’t really post many “religious” shots, but this is just so powerful!

Ceremony
Your Love is strong – sung by Robbie Seay Band
Reception
Regina Spektor – Folding Chair (first dance)
Black Eyed Peas – I Got a Feeling
Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
Taio Cruz – Dynamite
Frank Sinatra – Fly Me to the Moon (cake cutting)

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Vendors
Brooke Schwab Photography
Ecclesia Church
DJ Red
Kelly Balfour (helped with donation items (cake and bouquet)
Special Arrangements Floral (donated bouquet and boutineer)
Smilebooth
Robbie Seay Band

This week has been a bit crazy. Andy and I have been running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to make a certain idea come to fruition. I need to keep things under wraps for now so we don’t jinx ourselves, but just keep your fingers crossed and some positive vibes flowin’ our way! Luckily all these shots (and music selections) keep me calm and focused during this time, so I’m certainly thankful for that! Onto the greatness from this week:

Bowie Bride meets Rock n’ Roll Bride, e-session style!

omg totally loving this polaroid photo booth, complete with advice to the newlyweds!

tattoo love!

what a badass new zealand wedding!

THAT DRESS OMG!!! and the wedding! the whole shebang!

teacup succulent garden!

hell to the fucking YES – love me some lizzie and isaiah! and the name ctrlp is perfect!

so freakin’ CUTE!

hey look it’s me and andy! and loads of cool wedding peeps gushing about THEIR day!

we all love noa‘s photos – now to love her taste in music!!

end of summer mix!

cause you can never have too many grizzly bear modern mixes in your life!

omg the official video for ‘Fuck You’ – total genius!

This was the description that came with the Two Bright Lights submission: A fantastic wedding in the heart of downtown Seattle at the Pike Place Market. The couple’s main priority was being in the city, and they achieved their goal with being in one of the city’s most beautiful venues overlooking Puget Sound. The bride wore a Maggie Sotterro gown and all attendants carried/wore flowers fresh from the Pike Place Market. They had a fun photobooth and a rockin’ DJ. They first danced to a Rise Against song, which was perfectly suited to their music-loving personalities.

Um how can I say no?! I crossed my fingers that these two wanted to gush all about their wedding…and it worked! Peep this y’all!

We knew right when we got engaged that we wanted music to reflect what we liked and who we were as people, but we also wanted stuff that was accessible for everyone from our teenage cousins to our elderly guests. We were so thrilled that we found City DJ, a local DJ who completely understood what we were going for. Adrian, our DJ, played some of our favorite songs as done by Vitamin String Quartet before the ceremony, then an acoustic version of “Solsbury Hill” by Peter Gabriel as I walked down the aisle with my dad. I just love the 7/8 time of that song, and it just fit the light, happy mood we were trying to achieve the whole night. Tyler and I then walked back down the aisle after we were married to “Got to Get You Into My Life” by the Beatles, which was perfect because we kissed, and everyone clapped, and then the horns at the beginning of that song as we exited the room!  It was awesome!

During the cocktail hour we played a lot of easier sounding pop and rock, but songs that weren’t really danceable and wouldn’t fit later. (I wish I could remember specifics, but this is the point of the evening where I was kind of in a cloud!)

First dance: Swing Life Away – Rise Against
This has been “our song” ever since college, and it fit the mood so perfectly. We loved every minute of it.
Father/Daughter: My Wish – Rascal Flats
My dad is a huge country fan, and even though I’m so not, it made him so happy which made me happy.  It was his little piece of the wedding and he put so much thought into picking that song because of the lyrics, I just couldn’t say no.
Cake Cutting: Love You Madly & Short Skirt Long Jacket – Cake
Bouquet Toss: Single Ladies – Beyonce
Garter Throw: Beautiful – Snoop Dogg and Pharell

For the rest of the night, our DJ played a lot of 80s (“Come On Eileen”), 90s old school (“Bust a Move”), and old stuff (some Motown, some classic rock).  It fit together really well, since everyone seemed to be enjoying it.  We even threw in some current pop (“Your Love is My Drug”) as a spur of the moment thing, since we thought we wanted to stay away from that originally. My brother and have both loved Neil Diamond since we were little, so I asked the DJ to play “Sweet Caroline” at one point and we both sang it to the crowd together, which was one of the biggest highlights of the wedding for me! At the end of the night, there was only one song left to play, and it was “Don’t Stop Believing”, of course.

All in all, I loved the music at our wedding mainly because it was cool, but still accessible for enough of our guests to enjoy. We stayed away from some of the super cheesy stuff (no “Celebration”, no “We Are Family”), but embraced other cheesy things that we had a connection to, like Neil Diamond and the Beatles. I was so happy with the way everything came together, and we got a lot of compliments on the variety and quality of the music. We left a lot up to our DJ, because we trusted him, and we knew that he was very capable of reading our crowd and using the guidelines we had given him to put together a killer evening. I don’t think it would have turned out so well had that trust not been there!

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Photos By: La Luz Photography

Now that you got a taste of her music choices, let’s ooh and aah over how good she is with a camera! When Amber emailed me with this “sexy” session she shot of her cousin, Alex. Le Awesome Alex wanted to be herself in these shots and wasn’t too interested in fishnets and corsets. I thought it would be awesomely funny if Alex shared some of her favorite sexin’ songs…and voila, she did! Any chickadee that gets it on to Radiohead is a-ok in my book!

The Black Keys – Too Afraid to Love You
Adam and the Ants – Kings of the Wild Frontier
Creedence Clearwater Revival – I Put a Spell on You
Metric – Satellite Mind
Black Heart Procession – Sympathy Crime
Radiohead – There There

She’s also in a band with her boyfriend called The Snowbirds (bonus Hi-Fi points!) — kind of like a She & Him type of deal. Check out the video below! Also, you GOTTA check out their “just because” session!

Snazzy Shots: Live it Out Photography

Ever since I first laid eyes on this dashing couple, I knew their wedding day would be fabulous! With her own talent in event design, Emilia‘s darling details helped complete this magical day! Of course my favorite fact is how music-centric these two love birds are – and how much they gushed about it!

Music has always been a big part of our relationship. Bill was the first guy to ever give me a real mix tape when we first dated our sophmore year of college. Our college parties always ended up in sweaty dance party. When we reconnected two years after graduating, we lived in different states and would send each other love letters and mix CDs. We took about 5 crates of records each when we moved across the country to California together. So when we started thinking about this wedding it was pretty obvious to us that music had to play a major role. We would accept nothing less than a massive, sweaty dancefest at the end of the night. The more grinding and rocking out the better!

And the music talk doesn’t stop there…oh no, far from it:

We are pretty lucky to have wonderful, talented, generous friends and family. Bill’s brother, Danny, is a musician and he and my childhood best friend and sultry songstress, Bekah, agreed to sing “I Found a Reason” by the Velvet Underground whilst playing the guitar and ukulele. I need a recording of this because, I have to say, it pretty much beats the original in my mind. Bill orchestrated an INSANE reading of one of our songs – Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” – by his friends Tony and Kyle (on electric guitar). Definitely the highlight of the ceremony…except for the whole getting married part, of course!

Bekah and her hilarious boyfriend Harry also serenaded us as part of their toast by doing a cover of “You and I” by Ingrid Michaelson (also way beyond the original).

For the dinner, we played songs off all the “mix tapes” we had made for each other of the years (starting in 2000!!!). The Wedding Warriors got a CD of some of the songs in their goodie bags.

My dad is in a few bands (I know…coolest dad ever) and I had really wanted one of the bands to play but it never quite came together. But after dinner, he surprised everyone by changing out of his quite dapper suit into jeans and a cut off t-shirt and rocking out with the band She’s Busy. Everyone went WILD and Bill and I had an impromptu first dance to my dad belting out “Born on the Bayou” (so random!).

And then things went kiiiind of crazy. Our friend Sam of Arpline manned the iTunes playlist and the dance floor was PACKED. The highlight of the evening had to be watching my mother get down to “Shoop”. It was really hard to pry people off the floor and onto the party bus to get back to the hotel.

I was sad that Bill and I missed our actual first dance but we stole a moment together and danced inside the tea house to “Bring it on Home to Me” (Davina + Daniel being the ninjas they are totally caught us!).

Dinner Time!
Friends Of Mine – The Zombies
Cosmic Dancer – T.Rex
Thirteen – Big Star
The Swimming Song – Loudon Wainwright III
By The Time It Gets Dark – Yo La Tengo
Postcards From Italy – Beirut
This Must Be the Place – Talking Heads
Bessie Smith – Bob Dylan & The Band
Monkey Time/Dancing In The Street – Laura Nyro & Labelle
Some Velvet Morning – Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazelwood
The Man In Me – Bob Dylan
Starry Eyes – Roky Erickson
Lion in the Winter – Hoyt Axton
Burning Up With Love – Little Richard
A History of Lovers – Iron & Wine / Calexico
Andalucia – John Cale
Love Is Strange – Nancy & Lee
Memories – Leonard Cohen
Home – Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros
Thunder Road – Bruce Springsteen
Alone Again Or – Love
Oh Yoko! – John Lennon
Candy – Iggy Pop & Kate Pierson
(I’ll Love You) Forever And Ever – Bonnie Prince Billy
I’ll Be Your Mirror – The Velvet Underground
In The Aeroplane Over The Sea – Neutral Milk Hotel
Lust For Life – Girls
There Is A Light That Never Goes Out – The Smiths
Ladies And Gentleman, We Are Floating In Space – Spiritualized
By Your Side – Beachwood Sparks
In Dreams – Roy Orbison
Sea of Love – The Nightcrawlers
I Put A Spell On You – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins
Heart of Darkness – Sparklehorse
Coney Island Baby – Tom Waits
Dress Sexy At My Funeral – Smog
Fish & Bird – Tom Waits

Dance Party!!!
I Want You Back – The Jackson 5
Twist And Shout – Backbeat Band
Let’s have a party – Wanda Jackson
Love Man – Otis Redding
Need You – INXS
James Brown – Sex Machine
You Really Got Me – The Kinks
Show Me – Joe Tex
Poison – Bel Biv
Kiss – Prince
Honky Tonk Woman – The Rolling Stones
Bring It On Home To Me – Sam Cooke
Uptown Girl – Billy Joel (Father / Daughter Dance)
The Real Thing – The Detroit Cobras
Love Shack – B52’s
Let’s Dance – David Bowie
Hey Ya! – Andre 3000
Crazy In Love – Beyoncé Feat. Jay-Z
Best I Ever Had (Skeemix) – Drake feat. R. Kelly
Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough – Michael Jackson
Work It – Missy Elliott
OMG (feat. will.i.am) – Usher
Slow Jamz – Kanye West Feat. Twista & Jamie Foxx
Ignition (Remix – R Kelly
Shoop – Salt-N-Pepa
Bad Romance – Lady Gaga
Rock Your Body – Justin Timberlake
Like A Prayer – Madonna
Under Pressure – Queen
Blister In The Sun – Violent Femmes
Livin’ On A Prayer – Bon Jovi
Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It) – Beyoncé
Perfect Day – Lou Reed
Electric Feel – MGMT

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Photos By: Davina + Daniel