How Did Faith Hill and Tim McGraw Meet? All About Their ‘Immediate Spark’ — and Why It Took Her So Long to Say Yes to a Date

Tim McGraw fell for Faith Hill “in an instant” when he first met her in 1994, but it wasn’t until two years later that the two started dating.

The country stars first crossed paths at the Country Radio Seminar in Nashville in the spring of 1994. Both were in relationships at the time, McGraw with Kristine Donahue and Hill engaged to Scott Hendricks.

However, two years later, when Hill joined McGraw on his Spontaneous Combustion tour in 1996, the two fell in love. “We were young and silly and goo-goo-eyed in love,” McGraw later told PEOPLE.

Within the year, the two were engaged and married and expecting a baby shortly after. Now, McGraw and Hill have been together for over a quarter of a century and share three daughters: Gracie, Maggie and Audrey.

The family share a close bond, and McGraw has often credited Hill for being his rock, especially for helping him stay sober after he felt he had an unhealthy relationship with alcohol.

“My wife always says, ‘You’re not scared of anything.’ I say, ‘Ehhh, one thing. I’m looking at it right now,’ ” he told Esquire in 2021. “I didn’t know love could feel so good. Was it an emotion? Was it a lifestyle? Was it an imaginary thing? But love is all of those things.”

So how did Tim McGraw and Faith Hill’s romance begin? Here’s everything to know about how the two first met and their love since.

McGraw and Hill first crossed paths at a show in Nashville

McGraw and Hill were both at a Country Radio Seminar showcase for new talent in Nashville when they met. They took their first picture ever together that day backstage of the “New Faces” show, McGraw wrote in a 27th wedding anniversary tribute to his wife in October 2023.

McGraw shared on the Bobby Bones Show that his girlfriend at the time said she “didn’t know” if she wanted the singer to “say hi” to Hill anymore, explaining that she saw “immediately” that the two had a spark.

The first time McGraw asked Hill out, he came with a bowl of dumplings

McGraw admitted on the Bobby Bones Show that it took “a bunch of times” to get Hill to go out with him, but the most memorable time was the first time he “legit” asked her, Hill said.

“You brought me chicken and dumplings, you came to my house, you didn’t announce that you were coming,” Hill shared on the show, turning to McGraw. “Knocked on my door, opened my door, and he had a bowl of homemade chicken and dumplings, and he said, ‘I made these myself; they’re homemade from scratch.’ ”

She added that the bowl was covered by aluminum foil, and he had both a spoon and a fork on top, telling her that he didn’t know if she liked to eat her dumplings with which utensil, so he brought both.

“Hey, look, you make up for your inadequacies,” McGraw joked.

They reconnected when Hill joined him on tour

After their first meeting, the two country stars reunited in 1996 when Hill joined McGraw on his Spontaneous Combustion tour. Hill was still engaged at the time, but she and McGraw eventually split from their partners and got together.

“If someone is going to judge my character because I was engaged to somebody and then I left him for somebody else … I can’t control that,” Hill told PEOPLE in 1998. “But I wasn’t about to let Tim slip through my hands.”

Both shared later on the Bobby Bones Show that their first official date was at a concert.

Hill was initially hesitant to get engaged

On their 25th wedding anniversary in October 2021, McGraw shared the story of how he proposed to Hill on June 26, 1996, calling it the “best day of my life.” While she did say yes, Hill was initially hesitant to marry McGraw as she was wary of being with a country singer.

“We had dated for a while,” McGraw reflected. “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.’ ”

However, McGraw finally got down on one knee in his dressing room at a country music festival, hoping Hill would say yes.

“She said, ‘We’re at a country music festival in a trailer house, and you’re asking me to marry you?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ So I went onstage … When I came back offstage, [I saw] a Sharpie with lipstick kisses all over it, saying, ‘Yes! I’m gonna be your wife,’ ” he recalled.

Hill had written her acceptance of his proposal on the mirror, and to this day, the couple still have it in their home.

They got married in 1996

Just four months after getting engaged, Hill and McGraw tied the knot on Oct. 6, 1996. The two pulled off a surprise wedding, inviting their family and friends to what they thought was going to be a softball game and concert in McGraw’s hometown of Rayville, La., but was actually the couple’s nuptials.

“We had to tried to plan it a couple times but everybody kept finding out about it,” McGraw shared on LIVE! with Regis and Kelly in 2011 about why they decided to surprise their family with the wedding.

He shared that his whole family was ready for a celebrity softball game but came out of the car to Hill and McGraw dressed in wedding gear. The couple said their “I do’s” under a locust tree in his aunt’s backyard.

The “My Best Friend” singer said his sisters were a “little upset” because they wanted to “dress up,” but otherwise everyone was pleased.

They share three children

Over a quarter of a century later, the couple now share three grown daughters: Gracie, Maggie and Audrey. McGraw and Hill first welcomed Gracie on May 5, 1997, followed by Maggie on Aug. 12, 1998. Three years later, they rounded out their family with the birth of their daughter Audrey on Dec. 6, 2001.

The girls have stepped out with their parents at several red carpets over the years and continue to be a source of pride for McGraw and Hill.

“It’s inspiring to me to watch them go out on their own and do the things they do,” McGraw told PEOPLE in 2021 about his daughters. “We’ve raised three strong, independent, strong-minded young women. And what I’m most grateful for is just how normal our kids are and how grounded they are and how much they respect themselves and other people. It makes me feel like we’ve done a pretty decent job, especially Mom.”