Canadian singer-songwriter Meghan Patrick is gearing up to headline Boots & Hearts Festival this weekend, coming back to her Ontario home roots before heading across the country for the Canadian Country Music Awards (where she’s racked up four more nominations). The country artist, who has shared the stage with heavyweights such as Lady A and, as a published songwriter, has collaborated with artists including Chantal Kreviazuk. She’s also shared the stage with one other notable country artist: her husband, Nashville’s Mitchell Tenpenny. Here, Patrick shares the story of how Tenpenny wooed her in a very Canadian way and their super country wedding.
How they met
We met at Losers bar in midtown Nashville. I’m pretty sure our first real date was a Nashville Predators game… I guess he figured the best way to impress a Canadian girl was to take her to a hockey game.
The relationship
For the first month or so that we were seeing each other, I was actually on tour in Canada the whole time, so I guess we technically started as a “long-distance couple.” We spent a lot of time talking on the phone and FaceTiming and before I even made it back home to Nashville he told me one night he wanted to “lock this down” and asked me if I would be his girlfriend. It was unlike the beginning of any other relationship I’d ever had, but we had already built a strong foundation and connection before I came home, and it was definitely a first to come home to a boyfriend I didn’t have when I left.
The proposal
He proposed in the back room of Losers in the exact same place we first met. He had it all decorated with rose petals and lights and pictures of us, and both our families were there to celebrate with us… he also managed to surprise me which is hard to do! It was perfect.
The wedding and honeymoon
We got married at a friend’s farm just outside Nashville. It was a special place for me as the people who own the farm were some of my first friends when I moved to Nashville, and it quickly became a special place for Mitchell too. It was a beautiful sunny day in the fall, the leaves had all changed, and it was truly the best day of my life. We decided to have our honeymoon in Maui after doing a songwriters event there together. We fell in love with everything about it and knew we had to come back for our honeymoon.
Shared hobbies and interests
Golf, hunting and fishing, frisbee golf — anything in the outdoors basically.
Balancing careers and a relationship
We just try and make the best of the time we have together when we have it. We try to keep “shop talk” to a minimum, we plan date nights, and golf together and try to put the phones away and just be in the moment with each other. But the fact that we are both chasing the same dream helps, we both understand the sacrifice it takes, but know that when push comes to shove, our marriage comes first.
The future together
We’d love to do some more touring together, and hopefully have some kids we could one day take on the road with us. We are very blessed with the life we have now, so we just hope to have many more years together doing what we love, cheering each other on, and having fun. Fun and adventure is a big part of our foundation.
