Cassadee Pope and Rian Dawson’s Dog Cuppy Trumps Wedding Plans

Though Cassadee Pope and fiancé Rian Dawson are definitely excited about their upcoming nuptials, the couple says they are in the very preliminary stages of the planning process.

“We’re slow,” Dawson admits to Sounds Like Nashville. “It took me seven years to muster up the courage and strength [to propose].”

Pope believes the ceremony won’t take place for another year, seeing as her fiancé spends a lot of time on the road and she’s currently in the process of making new music. “We’re kind of just taking our time with it,” she says. “To be in one place at one time this year is kind of rare.”

But one thing that is not in question is their adoration for their adorable new puppy, a French bulldog named Cuppy. The sweet pup is just six months old and the duo are so infatuated with him that Pope has created an official Instagram for their furbaby (it’s cuppythepuppy if you want to follow along with his antics).

“We’re just in love with him,” Pope gushes. “Between that and being gone a lot, we still have to do the guest list, we still have to find a planner, but we’re excited.”

While there’s still plenty to do, Dawson says there’s one task he knows will light the fire. “We’ll be happy to pick the date and then it’ll force us, we work better with deadlines,” he says.

Dawson dropped to one knee in a surprise proposal while the couple cleaned their home.

“I had no idea. It was such a surprise! It was a Tuesday morning and I was still in my pj’s, so it was not expected, clearly. This is such a stupid story, but he was sweeping in the living room and our puppy, a little French bulldog, the love of our lives, was biting the broom. So I took Cuppy, which is his name, and took him in the bedroom and just kept him in there for a few minutes and Rian was like, ‘Ok, you can let him out!’ Then, I opened the door and he was on one knee,” Pope gushed.