Brett Young Marries Longtime Girlfriend Taylor Mills in Romantic Ceremony

Brett Young is a married man! The “Here Tonight” singer wed his fiancée, Taylor Mills, in a ceremony in Palm Springs, California on Saturday.

“Being able to be best friends with a person you’re going to spend the rest of your life with is the most important thing,” Young told PEOPLE after the wedding. “She has a very pure, kind heart.”

Young and Mills exchanged vows in front of 200 close friends and family members. The wedding was officiated by Young’s father, Brad, and his manager, Van Hazelitt.

Young previously revealed he would sing at his wedding, although he insisted it wouldn’t be one of his own songs.

“One thing I’m definitely against is singing any of my own music at my wedding,” Young told PopCulture.com. “I think she has to hear those five days a week on tour, so I think if I’m going to perform, it needs to be something that’s outside the box and special and unique to our day. If I’m being honest, I still have not decided what it’s going to be yet.”

During the wedding, Mills wore a gown designed by Justin Alexander, with long sleeves and a low back. “It just really embodies me,” she said of the dress.

Lee Brice performed “I Don’t Dance” and Gavin DeGraw performed “More Than Anyone.”

“We chose people in terms of performers that are really important to us and are close friends,” Mills told PEOPLE.

Young and Mills originally dated more than a decade ago, when Young was just launching his career.

“We met 10 years ago, so she was around for the beginning,” Young said in an interview with The Boot. “She was in all the little beach bars, and at our terrible gigs; she’s seen every side of this business. Then, when it all finally started happening for me a couple years ago, we were separated.

“I didn’t even realize how much I needed somebody to share this with, because it all makes it so much more meaningful,” Young continued. “I can’t imagine it even being worth it without her at this point.”

Young proposed to Mills in February in Oxford, Mississippi, near Ole Miss, his alma mater, but hinted the wedding might take place near her college.

“We met in Arizona while she was at school at ASU, and we will likely get married there, so I thought it would be romantic to propose where I went to school,” he explained. “We were able to get a suite with a large covered patio and the hospitality staff at the hotel set it up while we were at dinner, so it was waiting for us when we got back.”

The couple dated for more than six years, before making the heart-breaking decision to separate.

“After school, she and I both moved to Los Angeles together. When I moved to Nashville, we took a break for a few years, and I wrote a lot of my first record about her,” Young told PEOPLE.

“There was never any bad blood; it was just the wrong time for us. We recently got back in touch and realized that we were both finally in the same place and knew it was right.”

The 37-year-old is the son of a minister, but his father wanted to be a parent instead of a reverend for his son’s big day.

“He didn’t want to [officiate],” Young acknowledged. “He wants to be able to be a dad. He is going to get up at the very end for the official part. He will be the actual, official ordained minister that pronounces us man and wife. He will sign our [marriage certificate], but for the majority of the ceremony, a very close friend is going to learn my dad’s ceremony.

“He’s going to do the first 80 percent of it but deliver my dad’s words, personalized, of course, a little bit,” he added, “but then my dad will get up and pronounce us man and wife.”

Young and Mills will likely be back from their honeymoon by Nov. 12, when he will receive the ASCAP Country Songwriter-Artist of the Year honor. He is also nominated for a CMA Award, for New Artist of the Year. The CMA Awards will air live from Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

Photo Credit: Getty images/Michael Loccisano