Scotty McCreery Reflects on His ‘Special’ Wedding Day
“[I] just started tearing up and waterworks came soon after that when I saw her.”
When Scotty McCreery married his high school sweetheart Gabi Dugal in 2018, he brought fans into the experience with the music video for “This Is It,” which serves as a highlight reel from that unforgettable day. One of the standout scenes captured in the video is when the couple approaches one another backs turned, anxiously waiting to see each other for the first time before they say “I do.”
“I could feel her presence coming by me before I even saw her,” McCreery recalls to Sounds Like Nashville, admitting that he was composed up until that point. “[I] just started tearing up and waterworks came soon after that when I saw her.” The sentiment they felt in that moment pours through even on screen, along with many other sacred memories created with family and friends that day. McCreery describes seeing his wife-to-be walking down the aisle as another tear-jerking event, watching their parents and the people closest to them became emotional as well. “I think at first I just lit up, and then the tears came,” he describes.
Though written before the wedding day, McCreery says “This Is It” accurately conveys the emotions he felt throughout the memorable occasion. He performed the song for his wife at the reception. “The bridge is, ‘now you’re walking down the aisle and I can’t help but smile.’ That was foreshadow when we wrote it, now it’s reality,” he says. While he wouldn’t change the lyrics, he does admit he’d have to replace the word “smile” with “cry” to mirror his real-life reaction. “I did a lot more of that than I did smiling,” he details.
The country star added another noteworthy component by asking the most important man in his life to bear the honorable title of Best Man. He chose not an extended family member or even a close friend, but rather his father Michael to bestow the distinction. “He’s always been there by my side. Whether we were playing baseball when I was younger, playing golf, or just there to give me advice,” McCreery says about how his dad fits the role. “[I] had my other guys as my groomsmen, but he just seemed to be the one guy. It just felt right.”
After the beautiful ceremony, which took place at a venue overlooking the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountains in their native North Carolina, McCreery details how he and Gabi shared their first dance to Elvis Presley’s timeless “Can’t Help Falling in Love” (he nailed the dip), jammed to classic wedding playlist staples such as “Love Shack,” and admits that watching his Nashville band mates tear up the dance floor was “hilarious.” “We’re so big on family and friends,” he says. “Having everybody in one place, that was probably the most special part about it all.”
The American Idol winner is set to hit the road with Jimmie Allen and Heather Morgan on his headlining Seasons Change Tour that begins in late 2018. The tour launched on Nov. 29 in Dallas and continues through early 2019 before wrapping up in New York on Jan. 26.
