Country artist Drew Baldridge is an engaged man!

On March 16, Baldridge popped the question to his longtime girlfriend Katie on a secluded beach in Aruba. And while the moment was a sweet one, making the moment actually happen was anything but easy.

“It’s been a crazy couple of weeks,” Baldridge says in an exclusive interview with Taste of Country.  “To pick the worst week in American worldwide history of travel to try to propose to your girlfriend? That’s me. That’s the story of my life.”

It all started back in December of 2019, when Baldridge and his girlfriend started talking about taking an overseas trip to not only visit her brother in Germany, but also make a stop in Paris. Little did Katie know that at the very same time, Baldridge was writing a song with Preston Brust and Chris Lucas from LoCash titled “Before You,” which essentially tells the story of his and Katie’s relationship.

“The song describes who I was before her,” says Baldridge, who has seen country music success with songs including "Dance with Ya" and "Rebound."

“Before her, I was a little lost. I was a little crazy. I didn’t know who I was. She just makes me a better person. If I could have anyone for the rest of my life, it would be her. I want her to make me better every day, and that’s what she does.”

Once the song was finished, Baldridge was ready to propose. But then travel restrictions due to the spread of the coronavirus began, and Baldridge’s planned Paris proposal was no more.

But he wasn’t ready to give up yet.

The couple planned a last-minute trip to Aruba, where Baldridge was finally able to ask his love for her hand in marriage.

“I got down on one knee and I don’t even remember if I asked her to marry me, I just saw her crying and shaking her head yes,” says Baldridge, who also played “Before You” for his love back in their hotel room later that night. “The crazy part is that there was this older couple underneath this tree on the beach watching me propose, and they told us that 20 years ago, they got married right underneath that tree and had watched us get engaged on their anniversary. And once they told us that, I just started crying.”

Courtesy of Drew Baldridge
Courtesy of Drew Baldridge
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All of a sudden, Baldridge says he had this funny feeling that God had planned it this way all along.

“God’s got a reason for everything,” says Baldridge, who is currently self-quarantining with Katie in Nashville. “All the travel craziness and all the changes in the song…it was meant to be at this moment in time.”

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