If It Weren't for Her Dad, Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins Might Not Be Married Today

From Good Housekeeping

• Country music star Thomas Rhett married his wife, Lauren Akins, in 2012.

• Famously, Thomas wrote the hit song "Die a Happy Man" for Lauren (his childhood sweetheart!) a few years later.

• Today, the couple has three daughters — Willa Gray, Ada James, and Lennon Love.

There’s nothing quite like a country love song. Among the hundreds of lyrics that have been in this genre, there’s one song that stands out from the rest. Thomas Rhett famously wrote “Die a Happy Man” for his wife of eight years, Lauren Akins.

As it turns out, though, Thomas and Lauren's love story almost never happened — and if it weren't for her dad, they might not be married today at all. Let's taking a look back at their relationship, and what helped them become the power couple we know and love today.

Childhood sweethearts

This country couple's love story goes way, way back: Thomas and Lauren actually met when they were both first graders growing up in Georgia. In the years that followed, they became close friends, and they did things like attend church camp together. They even dated for a brief period of time in high school, but it didn't feel right at the time, and they went back to being friends.

Both Thomas and Lauren went on to have different relationships (even almost marrying other people), but the feelings Thomas had for his childhood sweetheart never quite faded away. Then, one day, he confessed those feelings to Lauren's dad — and that confession changed everything.

"Her dad called me and said, 'If you don't come over here tonight and tell Lauren how you feel about her, then I'm going to tell her how you feel about her,'" Thomas told CBS This Morning. "I was like, 'Well, that would be so weird.'"

Six months later, the couple was engaged.

According to Lauren, Thomas proposed with a wine bottle and Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight” playing in the background. “You know I love you so much, and I can’t imagine doing any of this without you,” he said. “I’ve loved you since I was 15 years old and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Thomas then picked up a wine bottle and wrote: “Marry me?”

Following his lead, she also gave her answer in written form. “I grabbed the bottle and wrote my response on the label, ‘Well duh, yes,’” she said in an Instagram post.

Starting their lives together

Thomas and Lauren eventually got married in October 2012, when they were both 22 years old. They were young, and some people tried to tell them they were making a mistake — but the criticism didn't bother them at all.

"Everybody told him no, this is not what he should do," Thomas's dad, country singer Rhett Akins, once told Country Weekly. "[But] when I saw them stare at each other the entire 20 minutes they were saying their vows, it's like these two people are meant to be together. They are beyond in love."

Newlyweds Thomas and Lauren jumped right into their new lives together. The first year of their marriage, he told People, they spent 285 days on the road together, sharing a teeny tiny bed on his tour bus.

"Die a Happy Man"

One day while working on his 2015 record Tangled Up, Thomas realized he had never written a song for Lauren. He decided he wanted to change that, and ended up penning the lyrics to "Die a Happy Man." It was a special song for the couple, but it also made serious waves in the country music industry, winning multiple awards. To say the track completely changed Thomas's career would be an understatement.

The music video, which was shot in Oahu where the couple honeymooned, also features sweet footage of Thomas and Lauren together.

Growing their family

Thomas and Lauren knew they wanted to start a family, but they were having trouble conceiving. So they started the process of adopting a baby from Africa, and decided to put any other plans on hold. Imagine their surprise when, a few months later, they found out Lauren was pregnant!

The couple welcomed their first daughter, Willa Gray (now 3 years old), in May 2017. Three months later, Lauren gave birth to their second daughter, Ada James, who is now almost 3.

Adding one more

Most recently, the two took to Instagram to announce the arrival of their third daughter, Lennon Love. She came only days before Valentine's Day 2020. As Thomas and Lauren, now both 30, revealed in their announcement posts, they "could not be more in love."

By the sounds of things, he and Lauren aren't going to stop growing their family: Thomas has publicly said that he wants a "gigantic family," and he and his wife will definitely be trying in the years to come.

"If we stopped having kids now, I know I'd wake up at 45 and go, 'We should have had five more,'" the country singer told ABC News Radio. "Because I really do want to be able to sit at a Thanksgiving or Christmas table with the most gigantic family on the planet."

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