Ty Herndon and His Fiancé Just Might Write a Song Together for Their Wedding
Ty Herndon might be a recognizable name to a country fanbase, but his stardom was completely lost on his now-fiancé, Alex, when they first started dating.
"On our third date, he said, 'So, you sing for a living?' He's not pop culture. Not a clue," Herndon told Taste of Country in a recent interview.
But Alex did recognize Herndon's voice from somewhere.
"There's a place here in Nashville called Music City PrEP, for the LGBTQ+ community," Herndon explains. The clinic at Music City PrEP provides sexual health services like STD testing and HIV care, and offers PrEP, a daily pill that prevents HIV. Herndon has done voiceover work, and one of his jobs was as the recorded voice that people hear when they call the clinic. "If you call there, you hear, 'Thank you for taking care of yourself.' And I do the voiceover there. So [Alex] goes, ' I just thought you were the Music City PrEP guy," Herndon adds with a laugh.
Herndon and his fiancé come from two different worlds — the singer describes him as a "brilliant artist" — but Alex isn't too familiar with country music. But as their relationship has grown, that's changed a little bit, with Alex dipping his toe into the world of music, and Herndon says his fiancé has even expressed interest in getting involved with the songwriting process.
"He wants to learn how to write a song," Herndon explains, adding that he'd love to co-write with his partner. "Absolutely! That's fun. We're toying with the idea of writing something together for the wedding."
Wedding planning has been tough, Herndon admits, because his country career has been so busy over the last several months. The couple are still nailing down plans for a venue, and they haven't sent out invitations yet.
"We were gonna do it at Loretta [Lynn]'s ranch, but it only holds a hundred people, and at best we've got probably 250. At this point in my life, there's people we can't leave out," the singer continues. However, they've got some of the important details nailed down, like who's writing their vows. "Melissa Greene from the [contemporary Christian band] Avalon, she's one of my good friends and she's also my pastor now. We went to her with bullet points and said, 'Surprise us,'" he says.
And one of the most important parts of the ceremony — the question of who will be walking the grooms down the aisle — is locked in, too. "We're doing the walk-down-the-aisle thing with our moms," Herndon notes, adding that his mom loves his fiancé so much that "I no longer exist" since the engagement happened. "She calls and goes, 'Hey, is Alex there?'"
As excited as they are for the wedding, Herndon and Alex are just as excited about planning out their life together — and expanding their family — after they tie the knot. "We're already starting the process of fostering," he says. "That's just something we wanna do."