After first meeting while they attended the same college in Georgia, the pair had an instantaneous connection that couldn’t be ignored.

“We met my first week of college at a bar called Dingus, and we were just hangin’ out,” Caroline explained on the “Get Real with Caroline Hobby” podcast in January 2019. “It was Thursday night. I was a freshman. It was my first time in a bar. I was so sheltered growing up in a very small town and I’d had the same boyfriend since 8th grade. … Luke’s personality was so big, I was staring at him like, ‘Is this guy for real?’ He was the second guy I ever kissed in my life. Ever.”

Although they went on to date for more than a year while they were at school, Luke and Caroline eventually broke up when she “freaked out” after he’d talk about marriage. It wasn’t until four years later that they’d rekindle their college-era relationship.

“I was a drug rep in Macon, but I was in Statesboro for work, and my brother said, ’Guess who is playing in town’” Caroline recalled during the podcast interview. “I saw Luke playing, and something was different. We made eye contact and we locked eyes. … Then he took a break, and I thought he was trying to avoid me. So I left. He called my brother’s house at 3 a.m., and I answered. He was like, ’Where did you go?’ I said, ‘I thought you didn’t want to see me.’ Anyway, we’ve been together ever since. He and I would’ve never ever, ever lasted if we didn’t have a break. We appreciate each other.”

After an on-off relationship, the pair eventually tied the knot in December 2006 ahead of the release of his debut album, I’ll Stay Me, a year later. He asserted that Caroline’s support has helped him become a successful music artist.

“She’s the perfect kind of stability that I need on all levels,” Luke told The Boot in September 2015. “She wakes up at 5:30 and makes the kids lunches and lets me sleep in. My family still really dedicates themselves to me and works their schedules around what I have going on, so I look forward to one day when maybe those roles will change a little bit. There will always be all of this hype. At the end of the day, she’ll call me out.”

After their destination wedding in Turks & Caicos, Luke tried to get his music career off the ground, while Caroline ended up supporting their family for four years, she explained on Hobby’s podcast at the time.

Soon after, the duo expanded their family in 2008 and 2010, welcoming their two sons, Bo and Tate, respectively.

The Bryan family has also endured saddening losses. After Luke’s brother-in-law unexpectedly died of a heart attack in 2014, Luke and Caroline took in their three kids as their own.

While raising five kids together, the country couple still finds time to strengthen their marriage and have fun together, whether it’s a funny quarantine prank or a sentimental date night.

“We have fun with this career, we have fun with our kids,” he added in his interview with The Boot. “We have a normal marriage. We get into it, we fight, we figure it out, but at the end of the day, we understand that there’s a lot of stuff that comes at us that makes us all crazy, too, so we just try to be normal and enjoy the ride of this.”

Scroll down to relive the married couple’s fun-filled and romantic relationship timeline:

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This story originally appeared on: US Magazine - Author:Miranda Siwak