Watch now: Brett Young on his “fairy-tale” wedding, “fantastic” honeymoon and “validating” CMA nomination

ABC/Image Group LABrett Young married his longtime girlfriend Taylor Mills earlier this month in California, but he’s returned from his honeymoon in enough time to attend the CMA Awards on Wednesday, where he’s up for New Artist of the Year.  He tells ABC Radio his wedding couldn’t have gone better — thanks to Taylor.

“She did such a good job planning the wedding…I’m glad I stayed out of it as much as I did, ’cause it was a lot of fun surprises for me throughout the day,” he laughs.

The wedding day, which featured 81 degree weather, sunshine and a waterfall, was “just literally fairy-tale and perfect,” says Brett.

Adding to the festivities were performances by Luke Combs, Lee Brice and Gavin DeGraw.  Brett sang too, but he admits, “I got super-emotional and forgot lyrics and screwed up the song…it was just a nightmare!”  Luckily, everyone was still talking about how great Luke, Lee and Gavin were so, he says, nobody really noticed.

The couple’s honeymoon was almost a nightmare, too — until they made a bold move.

“We went to the Virgin Islands and it rained for three days straight!” Brett tells ABC Radio.  “We finally went, ‘O.K., we just gotta go somewhere where it’s sunny.’ So I found a non-stop flight from St. Croix to Miami…and we ended up having three amazing days on the beach…it was fantastic!”

Also fantastic? Brett’s nomination, which he says has given him “a sense of validation.”

But, he notes, “When you’re up against so much talent, it’s one of those things where if you actually do sneak away with [the award], it feels like you stole one, a little bit!”

Tune in to see if Brett steals the award Wednesday night at 8 p.m. ET on ABC.

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