William Michael Morgan Remembers His First Date With Fiancee Jennifer Wayne
William Michael Morgan capped off 2016 by proposing to his girlfriend, Runaway June's Jennifer Wayne, around Christmas. But while the couple is now well on their way to happily ever after, Morgan says that, initially, he had to work pretty hard to convince Wayne to even go out with him.
"She didn’t want nothing to do with this ol' young boy," Morgan recently told the Boot and other reporters. "I met her at a [country music festival] called [the Windy City] LakeShake, in Chicago. Just real quick, I said, ‘Hey,’ and they scooted off on their cart, whatever they were on.
"Maybe a week or two later, we met, I think in North Carolina or South Carolina, and we actually had a little time to spend together. I said, ‘This is where I’m doing it, boys. I’m getting on in,'" Morgan recalls. "I snuck on in. We ended up hanging out at the hotel afterwards, with her and her other bandmates, Hannah [Mulholland] and Naomi [Cooke], drinking some wine -- which, I don’t like wine, but I sucked it up -- eating tofu -- which, I’m not a tofu guy, but I sucked it up."
As fate would have it, Morgan was scheduled to play the Grand Ole Opry on a date when Wayne was also in town, and then, it didn't take long for sparks to fly.
"I said, ‘Do you want to go with me?’" Morgan recounts. "And so, she ended up coming with a friend, and, of course, being the redneck that I am, we went to the Nashville Palace afterwards and had a couple shots. I said, ‘Do you want to dance?’ and she said, ‘No ... I don’t dance.’ I said, ‘You’re gonna dance,’ and I got her out there, and we started swinging, getting down with it."
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When it came time for Morgan to pop the question, Wayne, by her own admission, kept "ruining" his proposal plans, but now that they're officially engaged, the couple has, at least a little bit, started thinking about what their wedding will look like.
"We don’t have a date set," Morgan admits. "It will probably be a destination wedding, is what we’re looking at. She’s doing her thing with Runaway June, I’m doing my thing; we’re just trying to focus on what’s at hand right now. Of course, we talk about it; of course, we sit on the couch and look up and dream like every other couple, but it’s just a matter of time."
Morgan recently earned a No. 1 single with the song "I Met a Girl," from his freshman album, Vinyl. Written by Shane McAnally, Old Dominion's Trevor Rosen and Sam Hunt, the tune has taken on an entirely new meaning for Morgan now that so much has changed in his personal life.
"When I cut it, I was just cutting something; I was cutting a great song that I fell in love with," Morgan says. "Now, of course, it takes on a new meaning. From the birth of my little girl, which happened first, to meeting my beautiful fiancée, to getting engaged, I think that all that played a part, and makes me sing a little differently now and think about the song a little differently."
"I Met a Girl" is available for download on iTunes.
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