A passion for healthcare

Complete Health’s Joy St. John has had a lifetime desire to take care of people

Story by Paul South
Photos by Mackenzie Free

As a teen, before Joy St. John and her family moved from the Dallas County community of Tyler to Pell City, the health care bug bit her.

She was a candy striper, one of a small cadre of young women clad in red and white striped uniforms, who dispensed bedside smiles and kindness to the sick and their families.

“That’s what started everything and drew my interest to nursing,” she said. “Seeing (nurses) help people, I thought that was something that I would want to do.”

Joy’s medical assistants Heather Barnett and Angela Wolf are a key part of taking care of people at Complete Healthcare

Fast forward. St. John earned a degree in nursing at UAB and a graduate degree from the Ida B. Moffett School of Nursing at Samford to become a nurse practitioner and worked as a nurse at Children’s Hospital of Alabama in Birmingham.

Now, she’s back home in Pell City, serving as a nurse practitioner at Complete Health.

A nurse practitioner is a registered nurse who is qualified through advanced training to assume some of the duties and responsibilities once reserved only for physicians.

In Alabama, nurse practitioners are required by law to work under the supervision of a physician.

According to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurse practitioners are one of the fastest growing professions in the United States. It was projected that the number of N.P.s in the country would grow some 45 percent between 2022 and 2032.

Increasing demands on doctors have triggered the growing demand for nurse practitioners, St. John said.

“(Doctors) just don’t have the time to see the amount of people that they have at their practice. (Nurse practitioners) are a great way to get patients in and seen, and we can actually be their primary care doctor if that’s what they wish.”

Complete Health Pell City is part of the Complete Health family of clinics in Alabama, Florida and Virginia. But while the Pell City facility is part of a larger corporate umbrella, it still cares for patients in a hometown way.

St. John works primarily in family medicine. “I’m a primary care physician for a good number of people. I diagnose problems, take care of chronic problems,” she said. “Sometimes people come in with undiagnosed medical problems. And then, we can start being their primary care provider and start doing preventative care.”

Complete Health Pell City also seeks to educate patients and their families about their condition.

As Pell City and St. Clair County have grown, St. John has seen her practice change. Complete Health has become a “one stop shop” for health care. “It’s definitely gotten bigger, with the addition of more doctors and the addition of more nurse practitioners,” St. John said.

“I have been here for 14 years. It’s been a great service to the community because we have CT scan, ultrasound and MRI, our own pharmacy, and we have a lot of specialty doctors that come in so (patients) don’t have to drive to Birmingham or Anniston to get specialty care.”

What sets Complete Health Pell City apart? “We can take care of the whole person,” she said. “We even have an urgent care that’s open seven days a week. Even after hours, they would have access to their records as far as their chronic conditions. We generally get people in pretty quick within one to two days.”

The business of healthcare, specifically navigating the huge health insurance marketplace, is the profession’s biggest challenge, she said.

“You sometimes have to modify a person’s plan of care because of insurance,” St. John said. “Their insurance sometimes won’t cover a certain medication or a certain test they need. It’s sometimes very frustrating to try to diagnose problems and take care of the patient when insurance won’t cover it. So, you have to make other decisions and talk to patients about what’s best for them.”

She added, “There’s no use in me prescribing an expensive medicine when they’re not going to pick it up (because of cost), when we can talk about it and go to another option. The amount of insurance plans out there is challenging for us.”

The presence of Complete Health and other healthcare providers has impacted rural communities in a positive way, giving those once-underserved areas better access to health care.

“Companies are able to put nurse practitioners out in rural areas where they might not be able to place doctors,” St. John said. “That’s very important for them and all the surrounding towns and cities to have access to health care.”

In the South, perhaps the most trusted people in the community are pastors and doctors. St. John has lived in Pell City since the 11th grade. She believes that makes a difference in terms of the doctor-patient relationship. That difference sometimes is seen in tangible ways.

“They send me cards on my birthday, send us Christmas cards, or you know, they know the details about me and our staff’s lives. It makes a difference, and they pay attention. We care about them, too.”

There are other little things that make her clinic seem like an old-time country practice that stretches beyond paying a bill.

“They bring us fruit, cakes, things like that,” St. John said. “Just like the old days. It’s one of the joys of practicing medicine in a small town.”

And, as you might expect, she often encounters her patients at the grocery store or elsewhere out and about.

“They’ll speak to me, or give me a hug,” she said. “It means a lot.”

And sometimes, they want a diagnosis for a malady among the cucumbers and collards in the produce aisle. “Sometimes they do,” St. John said. “But that’s a whole other story.”

St. John has served as a nurse practitioner for 24 years, beginning with a decade at UAB. Before that, the mother of two grown sons and a grandmother of two boys worked for 10 years as a registered nurse and nursing assistant at Children’s.

Like the candy striper experience, something closer to home deepened her commitment to a health care career – her dad, Lee Rhoden, and his last, long battle.

“When I was 26, my father passed,” she said. “He had lung cancer. I was able to offer my services. Just having someone in the family that knows medical terminology after a diagnosis is a blessing. Caring for him was a blessing. It pushed me toward the nurse practitioner part because I just wanted to do more than punch a clock every day. I wanted to really make a difference.”

 The youngest of four girls, St. John recalled one piece of advice her dad gave her, wisdom that sustains her on hardscrabble days.

“He always told us, ‘You get an education and be able to provide for your family. Don’t depend on anyone else.’ He always pushed us to set high goals. That was the beginning for me.”

For St. John across the years, a number of patient encounters affirm that she embarked on the right career journey. Those happen, she said, “all the time. I’ve diagnosed several new diseases or caught things that were missed before,” she said. “We have to take those moments and make them last until the next one. It’s the little things. People really do appreciate you.”

She added, “It’s tough not to bring things home with you. We’re human, too.”

Sometimes, she said, her profession gets unfairly labeled as not caring enough. But she and her colleagues at Complete Health Pell City are deeply committed to their patients, she said.

“This is a hard profession,” St. John said. “If you don’t love it, you aren’t going to make it. And you have to love people when they’re well and when they’re sick, when they’re mad, or they’re depressed. You have to show them empathy and sympathy. You won’t stay in this profession if you don’t love it.

“The Lord has a reason for placing us where we are,” she said. “We may be the one person who needs to tell them it’s going to be OK, and we’re here to talk about it.”

The Right Track

Architect designs, creates, builds model trains

Story by Scottie Vickery
Photos by Mandy Baughn

It’s been said that much about your childhood – your neighborhood, the house you grew up in, or the size of your backyard – often seems smaller when viewed through adult eyes.

For Malcolm Sokol, everything about Birmingham seems downright tiny. That’s because the retired architect and model railroad enthusiast has spent years recreating his version of the city’s Industrial District, all in miniature.

Trains are the centerpiece of Malcolm’s model city

He’s built his own small-scale 1952 versions of Ensley, Pratt City, North Birmingham, Elyton, Red Mountain and other areas, along with the railroads that connect them. There are restaurants, stores, warehouses, iron ore mines, steel mills, a rail yard, Sloss Furnaces and a railroad trestle. And he’s built it all within a room that measures 13 x 19 feet.

“A genuine model railroader tries to make everything as realistic as possible,” said Sokol, who now lives in Cropwell on Logan Martin Lake. There’s no doubt that Sokol, who estimates he’s spent more than 12,000 hours over the past eight years or so on his hobby, is the real deal. He’s got an assortment of regional and national awards for his designs to prove it.

“You can make a career out of a hobby, but when you love it so much it’s not like going to work,” he said. “You don’t put any value on your time with a hobby unless you plan to sell something, and I would never sell this.”

In addition to the time and money he’s spent creating his HO scale model railroad layout, Sokol has an emotional and sentimental investment, as well. It brings back memories of his childhood.

“I grew up in Fountain Heights, and when I was a kid, we used to walk down to the railroad tracks, which were about two blocks away,” he said. “We loved to watch the switching (of rails and cars) at all of the industries.”

Getting on track

Sokol, a member of the Wrecking Crew Model Railroad Club in Birmingham, got his first model railroad set when he was 8 or 9. “My father gave me and my younger brother, Howard, a Lionel O Guage railroad set,” he said. “We played with that thing until we wore it out.”

Some neighborhood friends had sets, as well, and they would put them together and play for hours. “That was my introduction to model railroading,” he said.

His interest was renewed not long after he and his wife, Marilyn, had their first child. They went to a model railroad show, where Sokol bought a set. “I said I was buying it for my son, but he was only a year and a half old at the time,” he said with a laugh.

Today, Sokol loves sharing his hobby with their three children and their spouses, along with their seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The Sokols’ home may be the only house on the lake where guests want to spend as much time inside as they do by the water.

 “They love to run trains,” he said of his family and friends. “Everyone who comes here says, ‘Let me see what you’ve done on the trains’ They love to see the progress.”

There’s always something new to see in his train room, which used to be part of his garage. When Sokol got serious about his hobby, he finished the area, adding a ceiling and walls. He put the Masonite backdrop on three walls of the room, and he and his grandson, Garrett, used stencils to paint clouds and mountains. He later installed additional mountains he’d painted on panels of Masonite in the foreground, creating a multi-dimensional background.

The first two years were dedicated to building the frame and foundation for the layout and for laying the track. Using historical rail maps for Birmingham as a guide, Sokol added some of the industrial buildings that were built alongside the city’s tracks. His layout includes Loveman’s Warehouse, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Co. and the A&P Warehouse and Distribution Center.

First National Bank and Pete’s Famous Hot Dogs are represented in the layout, while some of the stores, such as Marilyn’s Knit Shop, were named for family members. Businesses in the Ensley section of the layout include Ideal Furniture, The Bank of Ensley and Gilmer Drugs. Sokol recently added Phase 2 of his railroad, which extends into an adjacent room measuring 13 x 6 feet.

Details matter

Sokol said the skills he honed during his architectural career, which spanned more than 30 years before he retired as CEO of Evan Terry Associates in 1998, has come in handy. “It definitely helps,” he said. “I have the design ability and the construction knowledge.”

Being his own client has allowed him the freedom to build everything just the way he wants. Although much of the layout was based on historical renderings, he took some artistic liberties, as well. “When you own a model railroad, you’re the owner and designer and you can make all the decisions,” he said. “When you’re playing all the roles, it’s easier.”

Special attention is paid to the lighting setup down to the street lamps

Sokol’s attention to detail is amazing. Although many model railroaders buy pre-made tracks, he bought the rails and used a band saw to cut 35,000 tiny wooden ties, which he attached with miniature metal spikes. “It’s all hand-laid, just like the real railroad does,” he said.

Most of his buildings are scratch built, meaning he designed, cut, assembled and painted them by hand, rather than using a kit. A watercolor artist, Sokol’s painting skills add an additional level of realism to his cities and buildings that takes time to create. He spent six months, for example, building and painting the railroad trestle, which is modeled after the L&N Cane Creek Trestle #10 in Brookwood.

Sokol’s favorite building, which happens to be the first one he made, is one he named the Starry Eye Mattress Company. In addition to the architectural details, there’s a dumpster, trashcans, barrels, bales of cotton and small wooden pallets where workers can be seen stacking mattresses.

The design won two regional awards, including Best in Show, and was displayed one year at the National Model Railroad Association’s convention. “One of the kit manufacturers from Maine found me and said, ‘I want to build a kit out of this model,’” he said.

Sokol gave him permission and the kit maker changed the name of the business to Sokol’s Mattress & Furniture Company as a nod to the creator. The original limited run of 500 kits, priced at $160 a kit, sold out in the first year. Some are currently being re-sold on eBay for more than $200.

While many of the railroad accessories can be purchased, Sokol spends hours creating his own. Model railroad switches, which allow trains to be guided from one track to another, can be purchased for about $30. “I built my own switches for $2 worth of materials,” he said. “I probably saved about $3,000 right there.”

Although saving costs in what can be an expensive hobby is a motivator, part of the fun for Sokol is figuring out how to make his own buildings and structures. The blast furnace on his Sloss Furnaces layout, for example, was made from a wiffle ball bat. “I needed something that was rounded and tapered, so I just cut off each end of the bat,” he said.

He made his lampposts, which are only a few inches tall, out of three different thicknesses of tubing. All of the lighting on the layout, whether on lampposts or in buildings, is fiber optics, he said.

Much of the materials he uses comes from his own backyard. He gets scoops of dirt, bakes it to kill any bugs, sifts it, and attaches it to the ground of the layout with white glue. He makes tree trunks from azalea limbs, drilling holes in the trunks to add smaller branches. Sokol uses hairspray to make clumps of painted ground foam that he uses for the foliage on trees and bushes. “I’ve given workshops on making trees,” he said.

Sights and sound

The electronics that are part of the railroad layout are as impressive as the designs. One of the most popular features is a lightning and rainstorm over one of Sokol’s buildings on his miniature Red Mountain. The soundtrack features thunder and wind, slamming screen doors, barking dogs and other lifelike noises.

The evolution of the technology used to operate the trains makes everything more realistic, Sokol said. “It used to be that every train on the track would go at the same speed and in the same direction,” he said. Now, there’s a computer chip in each locomotive, and model railroad engineers can run trains backward, forward and at different speeds, all on the same track. They can also control sound effects, such as bells, horns and brakes.

Although Sokol completed most of the work on his layout himself, he had several model railroader friends who shared their expertise. Steve Singer helped lay the ties and build the benchwork, which is the foundation for the trains and scenery. Winston Greaves helped with the electronics, and Dave Whikehart helped build the structures. Sokol said he figures everything is about 80 percent complete, but don’t hold him to it.

“A lot of people will ask model railroaders when they are going to be finished, and the answer is they will never be finished,” he said. “There is always more detail to add, and some will build a scene, decide they don’t like it and start over with a new one.”

Although the trains have brought Sokol much joy, they are not his only hobby. He and his wife love to travel – they’ve been to Australia and New Zealand this year and often spend a month or more in a city so they can live like the locals. Although he loves the adventure, he’s always glad to get back to his model railroad.

For the past 15 years or so, he and the other members of the Wrecking Crew club have built locomotive exhibits for the McWane Science Center, which are displayed during the holidays. Aside from the fun of helping to create the layouts, he enjoys watching the children and families enjoy them.

“It’s very rewarding,” he said. “This is a great hobby.”

Big Canoe Creek Jam

Jammin’ for a great cause

Story by Carol Pappas
Photos by Mackenzie Free

It certainly wasn’t a first for Homestead Hollow. They’re used to hosting an outdoor festival drawing crowds from all around the region. But for newly opened Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve, its successful first venture looks like a gateway to an annual fundraiser.

Event was held to help fund the Big Canoe Creek Preserve

Creek Jam was an all-day, outdoor musical festival, featuring bands, entertainment and activities for the entire family and drawing 1,500 to 2,000 attendees. And Homestead Hollow provided the ideal setting on its main stage featuring: Winston Ramble, Jason Bailey Trio, The Stepdads, Love Rat, Len Park, Cottonmouth Creek, LeeJ The DJ and more.

An educational tent was run by two of the Big Canoe Creek Preserve Partners, Jimmy Stiles and Jill Chambers. Jimmy brought creek critters, such as a baby alligator, snakes, turtles and other species. Jill brought microscopes for kids to view all sorts of things found in Nature. The Nature Conservancy, Forever Wild and the Coosa Riverkeeper also manned educational tents.

Camping was available, providing more time to listen to the bands and to explore the preserve.

“It was a good turnout,” said Preserve Manager Doug Morrison. “We’ve had good feedback. People came from Gadsden, Hoover, Locust Fork – from all over. We were real pleased.”

The feedback, he added, centered on how impressed they were with the venue and “how well put together the event was.”

It had a little something for everybody with artisans and makers as vendors, food galore and music of all genres – and plenty of it.

Festival goers spread blankets, set up camp and lawn chairs or strolled through the open fields to just enjoy the day and the outdoors.

After all, that’s what it was all about – the treasures found in simply getting outside – just like at the preserve.

Morrison thanked sponsors for their support:

A great day was had by people of all ages at the festival
  • St. Clair County Commission
  • City of Springville
  • Buffalo Rock/Pepsi, our Presenting Sponsor
  • Big Canoe Creek Preserve Partners
  • APEX Roofing
  • Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama, The Caring Foundation
  • St. Clair EDC
  • AmFirst
  • Peritus Wealth Management
  • PPM Consultants
  • Hill, Gossett, Kemp, P.C.
  • Thompsons Tractor Rental
  • Schoel Engineering
  • Springville Dental

In-Kind Sponsors:

  • Cahaba Brewing Company
  • Ghost Train Brewery
  • Back Forty Beer Company
  • Steel Hall Brewing
  • Sweet Home Spirits
  • Creative Entertainment
  • Bob Tedrow of Homewood Music
  • Rusty’s BBQ
  • The Farm House

In addition, Morrison had high praise for:

Terri and Dean Goforth, who provided the venue space; Mayor Dave Thomas and Springville City Council; Commission Chairman Stan Batemon and the County Commission; all volunteers; Salient Projects, who organized the soundstage, bands and helped tremendously with planning; city employees from Parks and Rec; the planning committee – Terri & Dean Goforth, Mayor Thomas, Lucy Cleaver, Lee Jeffrey, Mandi Rae Trot, Candice Hill, Blair Goodgame and Morrison; Springville Parks and Rec Board; bands and individual musicians who played on the side stage and vendors.

Chandler Mountain: Save the Mountain effort focused on history and the future

Top Photo: Keith Little Badger, Cherokee tribe of Northeast Alabama, surveys area

Story by Mackenzie Free and Carol Pappas
Photos by Mackenzie Free

Charlie Abercrombie has a history on this mountain, dating all the way back to the War of 1812 and a man by the name of Chandler.

That’s why today’s fight to save it meant so much to so many. For Charlie, it was personal.

Many joined the fight along the way and for varying reasons – from newcomers to old timers. It was personal to them, too.

Mackenzie Free, a photographer for Discover Magazine, joined the effort and was a vocal advocate in the Save Chandler Mountain movement. She lives in the mountain’s valley on the same land her husband’s family raised generations. Mackenzie and her family stood to lose it all – just like Charlie – if Alabama Power’s quest to build a hydro dam there succeeded.

Charlie Abercrombie on the dam on family’s land

It didn’t. 

This is but one story among many, painting the picture of how history could be lost so easily. Here are excerpts from Charlie’s story that Mackenzie shared on social media at the height of the fight to save the mountain:

This is Charlie Abercrombie.

Out of all the folks I’ve met since moving out to the Steele/Chandler Mountain area 10 years ago, he might very well be one of my favorites.

I “think” he said he’s 77 years old, but I might be mistaken because he’s far too sprightly and agile for that to be correct.

He’s very charming and intelligent and has a memory that far exceeds mine.

He is also humble, hardworking and takes a lot of pride in his land.

You see, this land he calls home is special.

Very special …

His property was part of a presidential land grant from the U.S. government to Mr. Joel Chandler (yes, Chandler… as in ‘Chandler Mountain’) for fighting along with Andrew Jackson in the war of 1812.

A short while later, in the early 1840s, a grist mill (grinding wheat to flour and corn to meal) was built here.  It was powered by water… this dam and Little Canoe Creek.

One of the pictographs found on the mountain

Mr. Abercrombie’s great grandfather later purchased this property and grist mill from the daughter of Joel Chandler in 1896. Let me reiterate that … 1896!!

(*To put that in perspective this property has been in his family longer than Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Alaska, and Hawaii, have been a part of the United States!!!)

This land is more than just his home… its history!

It’s his heritage.

It’s sewn into the very fiber of who he is.

It’s his legacy.

And you’ll find that is a common theme for most of these families (mine included) that stand to lose everything their forefathers fought so hard to protect. 

It’s more than land … it’s bigger than that.

It’s not money either …  it’s about history, heritage and the American dream.

Land has always been a staple of the American dream. From the Mayflower Compact of 1620, to the Homestead Act of 1862, all the way down to the ongoing battle we face to preserve what we have today … land has always been a integral component and driving force for the American way of life.

Mr. Abercrombie’s family worked their entire lives to earn, maintain and preserve the land they have for the next generation.

He is a steward of this land and the natural wonders around him … just as his great grandfather was.

He stands to lose it all.

The same sentiment played out across the mountain and down in the valley. They treasure the land, and they want to preserve it for future generations.

People like Fran Summerlin, Ben Lyon, Leo Galleo and a host of others led what did indeed become a movement to stop the project. The Alabama Rivers Alliance lauded them with an award for what was called a valiant battle.

The consensus was that the mountain isn’t just a geologic formation, it stands as a monument to history and heritage. It still stands because people cared enough to get involved in a fray most didn’t think they could win. But, they did.

Native American groups stepped in with support for preservation of land their ancestors once lived. Twinkle Cavanaugh and Chip Beeker of the Alabama Public Service Commission visited the mountain, heard the group’s pleas and decided their votes on Alabama Power’s proposal would be ‘no.’

Within days, Alabama Power announced it was cancelling its plans.

Weddings: How the Lakeside wedding came to be

Story by Paul South
Submitted Photos

In seemingly every forever love story, there’s tradition – a band of gold, a diamond engagement ring, family, friends and joy.

But while some things never change, every couple puts their own stamp on their special day.

Hallie and Hunter Craton were no exception.

But the couple added in bits of themselves. Think a down home rehearsal dinner, a bit of espionage and a trip South of the Border.

And just as Logan Martin Lake provided a breathtaking backdrop for their wedding, the ageless body of water was home to another courtship milestone.

Popping the Question

As a small-town young  man raised with small town values, Hunter had already asked Hallie’s folks for her hand. But to borrow a word from college football television analysts, he had to resort to a little “trickeration” to pop the question.

“I spent a lot of weeks prior trying to sneak around town looking for rings and stuff,” he says. “Once I got the ring, I went over to my best friend’s house trying to come up with a date. I was so nervous, just talking about it.”

Hunter, along with his co-conspirators – his friends and hers – made sure she was dressed for a special night out and got her to a friend’s lakeside dock, decorated with a table, candles and pictures.

“She thought she was going to eat with her friends, and they brought her over there. When she came around the house, Hallie saw me standing on the pier.”

The couple’s parents hid nearby, to watch the big moment go down.

“I was shocked, not that he asked me. I had an idea,” Hallie says. “I expected it to happen two weeks later, on our six-year anniversary. I didn’t expect it to happen when it did.”

She initially thought someone was working on the dock when she recognized Hunter.

“I actually saw my Mom hiding in the bushes before I saw him,” she says.

Hunter said a few words that will belong to the couple alone, Hallie recalled. But the moment was emotional.

“He asked me to marry him. I was shaking, so excited. It was beautiful.”

And both wept, just as they would almost a year later on their wedding day.

The Vows

Just as the couple will keep the words of the proposal to themselves, so it was with their vows.

“We did private vows between the two of us before the wedding,” Hallie says. “Hunter isn’t much of a public speaker and we wanted to share them in private. It was very sweet and very intimate.”

The Rings

In another nod to tradition, Hallie’s engagement ring is a solitaire round diamond on a thin gold band. Her wedding band is a thin gold band with diamonds across.

“I wanted something that would be appropriate through the ages,” she says.

Hunter’s wedding band is the timeless gold band.

“Hallie talked me into it.  I originally wanted a ring that was gold or wood with antler laid into it because I’m a big hunter and fisherman. “But Hallie was having none of it.”

Perhaps a bigger chore than picking a ring was buying it without Hallie finding out.

Hunter’s red pickup is easy to spot in Pell City and Hallie – her Mom says – is “nosy, always up in everybody’s business” and tracks her loved ones with her Smartphone. So, the trick for Hunter was to buy the rings without Hallie finding out.

What They Wore

Hallie’s Robert Bullock-designed dress in the Lilac Dream style was crafted from a luxurious crepe material. The form-fitting frock has a strapless bodice and features a square neckline, adding to the sophisticated look, as well as a cathedral style veil.

For the reception, Hallie added a bow to the back of the gown.

Hunter was clad in a traditional, timeless black tuxedo.

A Pulled Pork Party

While the wedding rehearsal was at the site of the wedding, the after party was celebrated at Hallie’s grandfather’s next door.

Hosted by Hunter’s Mom and stepdad, pulled pork from Butts to Go in Pell City, along with the eatery’s delicious baked potato salad and baked beans.

“Hunter’s Mom and her friends really came through. They decorated it up, and it was very nice,” Jennifer Hannah says.

Members of the family and the wedding party delivered speeches, celebrating the happy couple.

“It was really sweet and sentimental to have that special time with our closest friends and family before the wedding,” Hallie says.

In a nod to her younger years, Hallie and her bridesmaids had a sleepover at her grandfather’s house. Some of Hunter’s groomsmen did the same at his house.

A Mexican Honeymoon

Enjoying the honeymoon

The couple celebrated their honeymoon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, at the all-inclusive Hotel Xcaret Arte.

“We had the best time,” Hallie says. “We ate at a new restaurant for lunch and dinner every day. The beach was beautiful.”

Along with lounging at the pool, the couple went scuba diving and swam through miles of caves under the turquoise water. On land, they rode ATVs.

“It was a great, great honeymoon,” Hallie says.

Hunter and Hallie worked with a travel planner. The bride likes laid back vacations. Hunter is a go-getter. The couple found middle ground.

“I like to sit on the beach and rot, I like to say. Hunter likes to do stuff and be very active. We tried to find a place that would satisfy both,” she says.

Two final notes

Hunter Craton isn’t only a gentleman, but an Auburn man to his heart. The wedding was the same day as the Tigers’ matchup with rival LSU.

“I couldn’t miss an Auburn game, even on my wedding day. It was the only thing I asked for.”

The solution was a big screen TV at the reception. Auburn lost. But no one would disagree, Hallie and Hunter won – big.

This, Hallie says, is a man with priorities. “It just tells me how lucky I am.”

And in a distinctly Logan Martin Lake love story moment, Hunter tells about when the wedding photographer wanted to get some shots of the newlyweds as the lovely sun sank in the west.

“We had to wait for a bass boat to pass before we could take the picture.”

Weddings: Newlyweds

Couple shares their love story

Story and photos
by Mackenzie Free

“I used to think a wedding was a simple affair. Boy and girl meet, they fall in love, he buys a ring, she buys a dress, they say I do. I was wrong. That’s getting married. A wedding is an entirely different proposition. “
– George Banks in Father of the Bride

Father of the Bride was one of my all-time favorite movies growing up. It was wholesome and funny, and it played into so many girls’ pre-Pinterest ideas of what a dream wedding looked like.

But George, the father of the bride (played by the eternally cool Steve Martin), wasn’t wrong. Getting married and having a wedding are two very different things.

No one knows this better than newlyweds and, of course, their photographer – me – who shot their wedding celebration the second time around. This St. Clair County couple – Zach and Gracie (Bright) Walker – became newlyweds twice, opting for a ‘real wedding’ after an initial elopement.

I have been shooting weddings for years and honestly, no two are exactly alike. Here, at Discover, we thought we would take you behind the scenes for Zach and Gracie’s special day in a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Walker.

The two began dating in February of 2023 and to say they fell in love fast would be an understatement. By June of the same year, they decided they were ready to get married and eloped to the courthouse.

However, having a celebratory wedding was never officially off the table and after a few months, these newlyweds decided it was time to start planning their big day.

How we met

We’ve really known each other forever. I was his daughter’s daycare teacher, and he messaged me asking if he needed a babysitter for Addalynn, would I do it?

The Highlands Chapel at Howe Farms wedding venue

I never talked to him until I was Addalynn’s teacher, and we would just talk about her when he’d pick her up, but I was always friends with Dalton and Derrick, his brother and cousin, so it’s crazy how I ended up with Zach.

Getting together

We started dating February 2023 and got married at the courthouse June 2023. We literally got matching tattoos a month after being together.

The planning

Zach said “because my wife is a bright person,” I did NOT want a fall wedding because I couldn’t stand the thought of a dark wedding. It’s just not me. The flowers and bright colors really do match my personality.

I also wanted it to be fun for Addalynn. I remember asking her what colors she wanted, and she said pink, blue, purple … and brown. I said, ‘How about brown (chocolate) cake?’

I just thought flowers would be simple and fun, and I wanted everyone to be able to wear whatever color they wanted.

Mother of the bride, Susan Bright, watches her husband, Travis, and only daughter, Gracie, during the father daughter dance

Mom said the florist told her she was so happy I chose color because she gets tired of everyone just wanting white bouquets. She was super sweet.

The big day

I wish we would’ve had the wedding closer to home so more people would’ve come and so everyone would’ve stayed longer. But then again, the chapel really was perfect.

I’m so thankful Addalynn was included in our vows. She made the whole wedding. It was her day, too. I love how she gave her very own speech. We had no idea she was going to do that.

I didn’t know Dalton was giving a speech until day of either. So, I think the thought of an open mic at a wedding would be super fun.