Stephen Barker Liles + Jenna Michelle Kennedy — Country’s Greatest Love Stories
Love and Theft's Stephen Barker Liles has been married to his wife, Jenna Michelle Kennedy, since Aug. 24, 2014 -- but if it were up to the musician, they would have tied the knot long before then.
"I loved her for a long time and would have asked her sooner," Barker Liles told People at the time of their engagement in May of 2013. "But wanted to wait until I could get her a nice ring."
The singer-songwriters used that "nice ring" -- a 2.34-carat yellow center-cut diamond, to be exact -- to propose on a beach in Fort Myers, Fla. The couple's love story goes back much farther than that, however: Barker Liles and Kennedy actually dated in the late 2000s, then drifted apart. In true 21st-century fashion, they reconnected through Facebook.
Barker Liles and Kennedy have two children together: Jett Barker Liles was born on Dec. 2, 2013, at 8:40AM CT, weighing 7 pounds, 7 ounces, and measuring 20.5 inches long. Then, in 2017, they welcomed a daughter, named Rayni.
"Jenna was awesome, calm and collected the entire time," Barker Liles bragged at the time of Jett's birth. "We checked in, stayed up all night and watched Sports Center and Friends, and listened to Mozart during the delivery."
Jett was an important part of the couple's family-centric wedding ceremony, too: The then-8-month-old, who was dressed to match his dad, was honored with a baby dedication ceremony during the wedding, which was officiated by Barker Liles' father.
"Of course I cried!" Barker Liles told People at the time -- happy tears, obviously!