Jon Pardi Marries Summer Duncan in Tennessee
Jon Pardi and his fiancee Summer Duncan had to change their original wedding plans due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but social distancing and virus-related shutdowns couldn't stop their big day completely. The couple married on Saturday (Nov. 21) in Murfreesboro, Tenn., People reports.
Pardi and Duncan tied the knot at Murfreesboro's Saddle Wood Farms. The singer, his new wife says, fell in love with the venue after attending a friend's wedding there in 2019.
"When we had to cancel our destination wedding, they were naturally the first venue we called when we knew we had to keep things closer to home," Duncan shares. "There's never a right time in 2020 to get married, so after all the planning and replanning, we were just happy we got to do it."
The couple originally planned for a Memorial Day weekend wedding in Montana, but when the novel coronavirus pandemic hit, they needed to postpone -- more than once, in fact. Only a small group of immediate family and close friends -- all of whom took COVID-19 tests prior to the big day -- from the Nashville area attended Saturday's event, so they're now planning a "wedding tour" (Pardi's words) to celebrate with loved ones in Nashville, California and Texas.
Pardi's father Jon and his tour manager Trey served as groomsmen, while Duncan's two best friends, one from California and one from Nashville, were her bridesmaids; Jon Murphy, Pardi's stylist and good friend, married the couple. The men wore custom Aaron McGill suits, American Hat Co. hats and Lucchese boots, while the women donned Johnathan Kayne-designed dressers.
Pardi, meanwhile, wore a McGill-designed tuxedo. Duncan custom-designed her wedding dress and a reception jumpsuit, the latter with Kayne, and calls it "such a fun and magical experience."
Pardi and Duncan used an unreleased song by Pardi, "Look at You," for their first dance. People reports that he wrote the song for Duncan in June, and recorded it in early November.
Pardi, 35, and Duncan, a 31-year-old hairdresser, first met in May of 2017, when a client of Duncan's who is friends with Pardi's mother set them up. He invited her to a show in Denver, Colo., and, she says, "within the first five minutes of meeting Jon, it was game over for me. I texted my mom, 'Sell my house, sell my car, send my dog.'"
"Summer was love at first sight for the first time ever in my life. She was the first girl I've ever dated where I felt like she had my back and that we really are a team," Pardi adds. "Summer is stunningly beautiful to look at, but that doesn't compare with her heart and how caring she is. We have the most fun together — in any situation — and we laugh constantly."
Pardi proposed to Duncan in October of 2019, during a show he was playing at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
"[We went] through the worst year possible for a relationship, one where Jon's career came to a halt and we spent more time together than we ever have," Duncan says of the time between their engagement and wedding. "We're thankful for all that time we got to spend together because it was a confirmation that we are a great team, we get along, we appreciate each other, we respect each other and we love each other."
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