Thomas Rhett Shares Adorable Family Pics From Rhett Akins’ Wedding
Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren got their two daughters all dressed up for their grandfather Rhett Akins' wedding.
Akins married girlfriend Sonya Mansfield on Saturday (Sept. 17) in rural Tennessee after getting engaged on New Year's Eve. It was an outdoor wedding, and the singer's kids and grandchildren took part. Rhett was a groomsman, while Willa Gray was the flower girl.
Lauren shared the picture above from the event — Rhett wears a sharp suit and holds their daughter, Willa, while Lauren wears a simple dress and holds their newborn baby girl, Ada James.
"Our happy (& tired, but mostly happy) little family," she writes to accompany the adorable pic, adding, "puppies not pictured but they're happy too."
She posted another picture that's a simple, but happy-looking photo of herself and her husband, writing, "We love love & wedding selfies," and adding a happy face emoji.
Rhett shared a photo of himself and his buddy Tyler Page from the wedding, drinking a toast to the couple with the comical hashtag #brohawk, a comment on their matching hairstyles.
Akins married Rhett's mother, Paige Braswell, in 1989, but the couple divorced when Rhett was a child, and he had attributed that in part to the stresses of his father's career and especially the long stretches he spent away from home during the most active of his career as a country artist. Akins scored a No. 3 hit in 1995 with "That Ain't My Truck," and followed it up with a No. 1 hit, "Don't Get Me Started," in 1996.
Akins has gone on to build a career as one of the most successful songwriters in country music, as the author of a huge string of hits for stars including Blake Shelton, Jason Aldean, Justin Moore, Lee Brice, Luke Bryan, Dustin Lynch and many more.
Akins' best friend and longtime collaborator, Ben Hayslip, tells Taste of Country that Akins' new love helps complete a very happy picture for him.
"We've been best friends for over 30 years, so I'm proud for him," he says. "I think he's in a really good place in his life. A time that makes this the time for him to do it. He's found a really good girl, and I'm just excited for him."
Akins is also getting to see both of his children do well in their own lives, with Thomas Rhett — whose full legal name is actually Thomas Rhett Akins, Jr. — rapidly becoming one of the biggest country stars of his generation, while his daughter Kasey recently graduated college.
"He's just in a really good place right now," Hayslip reflects. "His daughter just graduated from Tennessee, his son is doing great, on top of the world. You know, when you're a dad you wanna see your kid do good, and for a couple of years there, you just hope it works, because you see so many artists have a hit or two and then they're gone forever. But with Thomas doing good and his daughter doing good, Rhett's in a really good place as a successful songwriter ... he's ready to settle down, and he's found the girl to do that with."
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