Dolly Parton Shares Details Of 50th Anniversary Wedding Vow Renewal To Carl Dean
Dolly Parton has celebrated many amazing milestones during her lifetime. One that she is probably most proud of came just this week. The 70-year-old country music legend celebrated 50 years of marriage to her husband Carl Dean on Monday.
Dolly recently told the Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family, “That’s a milestone for anyone, especially in this business.” Dolly and Carl honored the event by renewing their vows.
According to Dolly Parton’s official website, she met her husband on her very first day in Nashville. It wasn’t the most romantic of circumstances — Dolly was doing some laundry at the Wishy Washy Laundromat.
“I was surprised and delighted that while he talked to me, he looked at my face (a rare thing for me). He seemed to be genuinely interested in finding out who I was and what I was about.”
https://www.facebook.com/DollyParton/posts/10153788553989755
Dolly Parton revealed to Home & Family, which has aired from Dollywood all week, that she was just 18 years old in 1964 when Carl Dean swept her off her feet. Dolly was walking around outside after putting her clothes in the washer when a “handsome guy” drove by and made a comment to her. After a short verbal exchange, Carl Dean pulled over and the two talked for a while. Dolly said there was an immediate attraction between them.
Parton invited Carl to come by where she was babysitting the next day to chat some more. After a couple of days of good conversations, they agreed to a first date for which Dolly said Carl took her home to meet his mother.
This week Hallmark Channel’s @homeandfamilyTV is all about @Dollywood! Are you watching?? https://t.co/rHBNiI9DdZ
— Dolly Parton (@DollyParton) June 1, 2016
Dolly Parton dated Carl Dean for two years before they got married on May 30, 1966. While she had a big wedding planned (like we would expect anything less from Dolly), her new record label wanted all her focus to be on her work. The head of Monument Records, who had invested a lot of money in Dolly, asked her to postpone her wedding for a year while she got her career off the ground.
Dolly Parton decided she was going to marry Carl Dean anyway. The couple decided they would quietly marry in Ringgold, Georgia, in hopes of keeping the news out of the Tennessee papers.
In March, Dolly Parton shared details about their wedding with The Boot. It was a private ceremony in a small Baptist church with only her mother, the preacher and his wife, and a witness in attendance. Dolly’s mother made her a simple white dress.
https://youtu.be/5qJHoOcDxeM
Dolly Parton said that she has worn her original, modest wedding ring, which Carl’s mother bought her on her credit card, all these years. However, along with the wedding dress she never had, Dolly got a sparkly upgrade for their vow renewal. She showed her gorgeous new ring off, as well as her first, during her visit with Home & Family.
Dolly also showed off her elegant, lacey wedding gown and Carl’s suit. Dolly had initially planned to have a bunch of pictures taken to sell to the “rag mags” to benefit her Imagination Library. However, she told Home & Family that Carl hates pictures, so there weren’t any to share. Dolly joked that she told Carl, “‘You’re worse than my first husband,’ which was him!”
Dolly Parton even shared a replica of her beautiful, butterfly-covered wedding cake. Carl Dean got his own farmer-themed groom’s cake. It was designed to look like an old tree stump and featured a red tractor to represent all the work he does on the couple’s Brentwood, Tennessee, property. The cake replicas, along with Dolly’s wedding dress and Carl Dean’s suit, will be on display in Parton’s Chasing Rainbows Museum at Dollywood.
[Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP]
