On Dec. 8, 2019, Georgia native Luke Bryan and his wife, Caroline, celebrated their 13th wedding anniversary. The hip-shaking country singer and his partner have endured their fair share of family tragedies over the years, but their marriage remains solid as a rock.
The college sweethearts met at Georgia Southern University in the fall of 1998. They dated briefly, separated for five-and-a-half years, then reconnected after Luke’s country music career took off.
“I was playing a little bar in Statesboro and she just happened to kinda be in town,” Luke regaled, speaking to HuffPost. “We kinda saw each other and talked a little bit and then started emailing back and forth a little bit. 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,” Luke said, adding, “we’ve been depending on each other ever since.” The loved-up country singer proposed in 2006, and the couple tied the knot on Dec. 8 of the very same year.
The tragic deaths of Luke’s brother Chris in a car accident in 1996 and his sister Kelly in 2007 tested the singer’s faith. “I do understand life is fragile,” Luke explained to People. “But all I can do is keep my brain in a positive space in this lifetime and be a light for my family and for people dealing with similar things in their lives.”
“He still hurts but he knows God has a reason for everything,” Caroline added. “Luke says it’s not our job to understand. It’s our job to accept.”
The Bryans have two sons together, Bo and Tate. Then, after Kelly’s husband passed away in 2014, the Bryans welcomed Luke’s nephew Til into the family’s Nashville, Tennessee, home.
Luke is a proud family man; Caroline and their children make regular appearances on his social media pages. In his role as father to three boys, Luke seems to be in his element.
“He’s just as goofy at home as he is onstage; he’s not putting on an act,” Caroline told People. “I have tons of films of him in the kitchen dancing around in a silly outfit.”
Speaking of leisure time, Luke reflected: “Probably fishing is my first passion. The outdoors is mainly what I enjoy and I’ve been preaching all that to my boys,” he told HuffPost.
The singer, in light of his hectic tour schedule, has immense gratitude for Caroline’s role as a mother. “When I get off the road and I walk in the door,” Luke told The Boot, “and I know that the boys have just been tearing the house down, and my wife’s able to still smile at me and ask how it was on the road, pretty amazing.”
Something that seems to keep Luke and Caroline’s marriage so strong after 13 years together is their mutual appreciation for good communication.
“We’ve seen dear friends go through rough spots,” Caroline admitted, speaking to People. “Things are changing, but we talk a lot, and as long as we stay on the same page and change together, I don’t have trouble sleeping.”
As for their kids, “We want them to know Mom and Dad are happy,” Caroline explained, “and that’s what a marriage should be.”