Carly Pearce and Michael Ray Celebrate One-Year Anniversary at First Date Spot
Carly Pearce and Michael Ray found an adorable way to celebrate their one-year dating anniversary in the midst of their hectic schedules: The couple returned to the location of their first date, the Nashville Palace.
Pearce and Ray each shared the same sweet photo of the moment on Instagram. They're seated next to each other inside the honky-tonk, located across the street from the Grand Ole Opry, with their arms around each other as they smile for the camera.
"We celebrated our 1 year anniversary at the place where she stole my heart, listening to traditional country music," Ray writes. "Carly you’re my foundation in life and I can’t wait for 99 more years with you. Thank you for choosing me, you’re the gift I’ll never know how I deserved. I love you forever and a day."
Adds Pearce, "I love you more than anything in this world, Michael ... I wish I could go back in time and tell that girl sitting at the bar listening to old school country music with that boy hoping he’d keep his arm around her that this was going to be the night that changed her life forever ..."
Pearce and Ray first confirmed their relationship in mid-July of 2018, after flirty social media messages between the two made fans suspicious. Pearce later admitted that she was the one to make the first move, commenting on all of his posts and Instagram Stories to get his attention.
"And he'll tell you it took him a second to get it," she says. "I've had a crush on him for a really long time and just always thought there was more to that pretty face, and there totally is."
Previously, Pearce has said that she knew the night of that first date at the Nashville Palace that she and Ray would get married: "He put his arm around me and we looked at each other, and I promise you, I went to my bus that night to get on tour and I told my band, 'I'm gonna marry Michael Ray,'" she recalls.
Ray proposed to Pearce in December, while they were on vacation in Mexico just before Christmas, and they're planning a fall wedding. Her upcoming sophomore album will include a duet between the two; although they didn't write it, Ray says it perfectly describes the early days of their relationship.
"It's a really cool song that paints a perfect picture of where you're at when you first start dating, and that scene; and that's kind of what we wanted to step out with our first duet," the "Kiss You in the Morning" singer shares. "We recorded it when we were dating and kind of in that beginning stages of things, so it's one of those songs. We're excited for everybody to hear it."
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