Tim McGraw Shares Sweet Anniversary Tribute to Faith Hill After 26 Years of Marriage

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill are celebrating a major relationship milestone: more than 25 years of marriage! Thursday, Oct. 6 marked the country music power couple‘s 26th wedding anniversary, and McGraw marked the special occasion in a sweet way.

During the early morning hours of Oct. 6, McGraw took to his social media platforms to sweetly pay tribute to his wife, writing, “Wow, 26 years! Happy anniversary to my girl!! I love you baby.” He shared his heartwarming message alongside a montage video of photos highlighting their relationship set to the tune of “I Need You,” the couple’s 2007’s collaboration song.

Wow, 26 years!
Happy anniversary to my girl!!
I love you baby @FaithHill pic.twitter.com/yciBmf0Dj6

— Tim McGraw (@TheTimMcGraw) October 6, 2022

McGraw and Hill first met back in 1994 at the annual Country Radio Seminar in Nashville, Tennessee. While there was “instant” chemistry between the two, romance didn’t spark until 1996, when Hill was an opening act on his Spontaneous Combustion tour. At the time, McGraw was newly single after breaking off his engagement to Kristine Donahue, and while Hill was engaged to record producer Scott Hicks, she ultimately broke off the engagement, telling PEOPLE in 1998, “I wasn’t about to let Tim slip through my hands.” The couple became engaged later that year.

“We had dated for a while. I actually asked her to marry me quite a few times and she kept saying no. She said, ‘I’m not going to get involved with another country singer, it’s just not going to work out,’” McGraw recalled when marking their 25th wedding anniversary in 2021. “They had these trailer houses set up. I’m getting ready to go on stage, and I had this sort of case that had this big mirror in it. She’s standing there, and we’re talking, and I said, ‘Look, let’s get married.’ And she says, ‘You’re asking me to marry you at a country music festival in a trailer house.’ And I said, ‘Well, it’s pretty apropos if you think about it.’ She goes, ‘Are you serious?’ And I said, ‘Well yeah, I’m serious.’”

After Hill said “yes” by writing her response in lipstick on the mirror in McGraw’s dressing room at the festival, the couple tied the knot on Oct. 6, 1996. They went on to welcome their first child, Gracie Katherine, in May 1997, followed by daughter Maggie Elizabeth in August 1998 and Audrey Caroline in December 2001. They have risen to become one of country music’s most enduring love stories, and have since collaborated numerous times on music projects. Most recently, they joined forces to star alongside one another on Yellowstone‘s prequel series 1883.