Music, Love and Marriage (Amanda & Joe Tackett)

My husband, Joe, and I met in July of 1986 when he was a musician playing at the Midtown Cafe on Old Woodward Avenue. It was a warm summer evening, and a good friend and I were upstairs at the Midtown, enjoying a cocktail. We soon noticed that nearly everyone who entered the restaurant went immediately downstairs to the lower level. We asked our server what was there, and he told us entertainment. So we joined the crowd! We soon found ourselves in a cellar filled with people enjoying some terrific music performed by a duo playing guitars and singing. My eye went to one half of that talented duo... and that night I met my future husband and the love of my life. The Midtown Cafe remains a large part of our love story, and we were married 15 months later at the Birmingham Museum (then the Allen House) in October of 1987. Birmingham is very special to us because it's where we met each other and began our lives together. We'll celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary later this year.