Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins

While singer-songwriter Thomas Rhett and Lauren Akins have known each other since first grade, they didn’t start dating until they were teenagers. Moreover, they didn’t stick, at least at first. The pair broke up soon after, and even almost married other people. But fortunately (for Rhett), Akins broke up with her then-boyfriend, and Rhett “moved in for the kill.”

“Her dad called me and said, ‘If you don’t come over here tonight and tell Lauren how you feel about her, then I’m going to tell her,’ and that was it,” Rhett told CBS last spring. The best friends-turned-sweethearts married in 2012, at the tender age of 22. Their love has actually inspired Rhett’s hits “Die a Happy Man” and “Marry Me.”