Former 'American Idol' winner Scotty McCreery says his mountaintop wedding was 'like Beauty and the Beast'
Former “American Idol” winner Scotty McCreery’s life hit a high note this summer when he married his high school sweetheart and longtime girlfriend, Gabi Dugal, in June.
“Married life is awesome,” the country star told ABC News during an interview for ABC's Robin Roberts' CMA Awards special airing this November. “I didn't know it could be like this.”
The couple was married on June 16 in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, a spot that’s special to both of them, said McCreery.
“[It’s] this beautiful place," he explained. "It was just like ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ pretty much on top of the mountains and cliffs overlooking the land."
"It's where we go to hike. It's where we go to just get away from everything. So, it's where we wanted to get married.”
McCreery said he wrote his newest song, “This Is It,” for Dugal before they got engaged and he performed it at their wedding reception in front of roughly 200 guests.
“’This Is It’ is kind of our song,” he said. “[We] had about two minutes to eat our food and I got up, and had some of my band guys there, and played a little … it was really sweet.”
McCreery used actual footage shot during his wedding festivities for his “This Is It” music video, which has registered over 5.6 million views, as of this writing, since it was posted on YouTube last month.
In the roughly four-minute video, fans can watch highlights from the couple's wedding: from the rehearsal and an emotional McCreery seeing his bride for the first time on their wedding day to the pair sharing kisses overlooking a stunning mountain vista before exchanging their “I do’s.”“We just wanted to share our special day with everybody because [we] couldn't invite everybody -- all the fans and everything -- but wanted to share it with them,” McCreery said. “The reactions have been great … just seeing how real it was and how special a day it was and how happy we both were, and our family and friends were.”
McCreery, who was crowned the winner of Season 10's “American Idol” in 2011 before he turned 18, has gone on to become a familiar voice on country radio.
She's just a great partner in life and we're having a lot of fun.
After parting ways with Mercury Records in 2016, the 24-year-old singer came roaring back onto the country charts with, “Five More Minutes,” his first chart-topping hit.
“‘Five More Minutes’ is probably my favorite song I've written,” said McCreery, who is now working with the Triple Tigers label.
“I wrote it … just a couple weeks after I lost my granddaddy, Bill," he explained. "And I just knew from the first day we wrote it that this was special."
"It's one of those songs that you can always think back to those moments in life and wish you had just a little more time.”
McCreery has announced that he’s closing out his whirlwind year with a new U. S. tour in November to promote his latest LP, “Seasons Change." He said that knowing Dugal is by his side makes things a little bit sweeter.
“It's been incredible having her home when I'm back from the road and just doing everything together,” he said. “She's just a great partner in life and we're having a lot of fun.”
Catch more with Scotty McCreery on the upcoming ABC's Robin Roberts' CMA Awards special airing this November.
