“We were living together, doing life together,” she said, and in 2020, when Covid brought their music to a halt, they continued enjoying each other’s company. Some people suspected they were a couple, but the pair maintained that they “were the bestest of friends,” Mr. Jakobsen said.
In spring 2021, they even bought a house together in Murfreesboro, Tenn., surrounded by farmland.
One evening as they watched TV, he spontaneously kissed her. “Are you sure?” she quickly asked, to which he replied, “Yeah.” They kissed again.
In December 2021, when his parents visited, they inquired, as usual, about their relationship. “Are you guys dating?” he recalled his mother asking, to which he confidently replied, “It’s been a gradual progression.”
In August 2023, he proposed on a sweltering day during a walk to the outskirts of their neighborhood.
“This is our future, still undeveloped,” he said, metaphorically referring to a development site where they stopped before he got on one knee, “and I want to develop the rest of our lives together.”
[Click here to binge read this week’s featured couples.]
The couple married before 68 guests on Jan. 27 at Rustic Elegance Event Center in Woodbury, Tenn. Jackie Collins, a state of Tennessee notary public, officiated. The bride was grateful to be able to walk down the aisle in an Aircast boot and a tennis sneaker (she broke her left ankle 20 days earlier).
A vegan and sustainable reception followed, featuring Italian dishes and three cakes.
Fittingly, this spring Mr. Jakobsen will digitally release his very first love song, “All of Time,” written especially for Ms. Bauman, with the chorus: “Hold on to me babe it’s gonna be a wild ride and I’m gonna love you for all of time.”
