Country Star Luke Bryan Has the Best Secrets to a Happy, Long-Lasting Marriage

From Country Living

• American Idol judge Luke Bryan and his wife, Caroline Boyer, will have been married for 13 years in December.

• The couple first met and dated in college, but broke up for several years before they got back together and Luke proposed.

• Now, Luke and Caroline share two children and adopted three more after a devastating family tragedy.

Luke Bryan and Caroline Boyer's relationship has had its share of ups and downs after more than two decades together, but they've stayed strong thanks to their rock-solid foundation and shared values. When the two college sweethearts first started dating in the late 1990s, life had other plans—but after fate brought them back together, they made it work in the end.

After a breakup and makeup (and one very nerve-racking Christmas dinner), Luke and Caroline realized that they were meant to be together for the rest of their lives. After 13 years of marriage and five kids later, they're still going strong.

Here's exactly how one of country music's hottest couples got together (hint: there was booze involved), the romantic details of their engagement and wedding, and how Luke and Caroline find a balance between marriage, family, and fame.

How did Luke meet his wife?

"We met [at Georgia Southern] back in fall 1998. At a little bar called Dingus Magee’s in Statesboro, Georgia," Luke told HuffPost. "We dated in college and then we broke up for like five-and-a-half years and got back together... and we’ve been depending on each other ever since."

When they first met, Luke claims that he was the first one to realize that the two were going to spend the rest of their lives together. "It took me eight seconds to figure it out—and it took her about eight years to figure it out," he told The Boot. "I had to drink a lot before I could go talk to her, but I did. Somehow I managed to ease over there and somewhat be charming. It was one of those situations for me, it was like, 'Who is that and how do I go talk to her? And, yep, I'm going to marry that girl.'"

According to an interview with HuffPost, Luke was three years older than Caroline—a proud member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority—during college and he ended up going to Nashville to start off his career while she finished her degree. All hope was not lost, though, as fate brought the couple together again when the two ended up in the same town at the same time.

How did Luke and Caroline get back together?

"I was playing a little bar in Statesboro and she just happened to kinda be in town. We kinda saw each other and talked a little bit and then started emailing back and forth a little bit," he told HuffPost. "And she was like, 'Hey, you want to come to my family’s Christmas party?' I went to the party and the rest is history."

Caroline said that Luke was nervous when they first saw each other, and she was the one to make the first move. "He was always a gentleman," Caroline told People. "We hung out as friends first and he never made a move on me. I kissed him first! He was always so scared of making a girl feel uncomfortable, he wouldn't cross a line." After that second first kiss, the duo became inseparable.

When did Luke and Caroline get married?

According to People, Luke proposed to Caroline in front of the Nashville Parthenon. During an interview with Michael J, he revealed that he had blindfolded her after a dinner date and took her there by surprise.

"We [had] kind of been talking about houses and stuff and I told her I had a house I wanted her to see. So, that’s what she thought she’s gonna do," he told Michael J. "When she took the blindfold off, I was down on one knee."

The couple got married on December 8, 2006 in Turks & Caicos, according to People, and spent their honeymoon in the Colorado mountains.

They celebrated their 10th anniversary in 2016 and Luke gave Caroline a very special gift for the occasion: a new engagement ring.

"It was a little 10-year anniversary gift. Ten years with me feels like a thousand," he told People. "It was certainly the least I could do!"

How many kids do Luke and Caroline have?

Soon after they got married, Caroline became pregnant with her and Luke's first child. Thomas Boyer Bryan (who goes by "Bo") was born in March 2008, and two years later, their second son, Tatum Christopher Bryan (a.k.a. "Tate") was born. However, their clan extends beyond just Bo and Tate. The couple also adopted Luke's two nieces, Jordan and Kris, and his nephew, Til, after his brother-in-law Ben passed away in 2014. His sister had died unexpectedly seven years earlier, so Ben's death left the three children without parents.

"We never thought twice about [adopting the kids]," Caroline said. "You know, it was never something that he and I had to sit down and talk about. 'Should we take this on?' We just did that."

What are Luke and Caroline's secrets to a healthy marriage?

In an interview with The Boot, Luke revealed that his marriage has its usual ups and downs, but that they always come back together in the end. "We have a normal marriage. We get into it, we fight, we figure it out, but at the end of the day, we understand that there’s a lot of stuff that comes at us that makes us all crazy, too, so we just try to be normal and enjoy the ride of this," he said.

They couple has said that they hope their children look up to their marriage. They both told People about a time Bo saw two elephants holding trunks and said that he knew they were together since they were "kissing." Luke said that it was "the greatest compliment we ever got."

"We want them to know Mom and Dad are happy, and that’s what a marriage should be," Caroline added.

The two are also no strangers to a good old classic prank to keep things lighthearted—and humorous, of course. Earlier this year during the coronavirus pandemic, Luke pranked Caroline while she was riding her bicycle along a road near their house, but she quickly got revenge with a funny cabinet prank.

Luke also told Good Morning America that the two of them were enjoying their extra time together during their coronavirus pandemic quarantine. "There are some divorces going around out there, these quarantine divorces," he told GMA. "But my wife and I, we're better than ever."

We're so happy that more than 13 years later, Luke and Caroline are still one of country music's most enduring couples. Here's to many more years of happiness for these two!

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