Photo: Getty Images
Jay Allen is engaged!
The singer-songwriter and former contestant on The Voice shared photos on Instagram of the moment he popped the question to his new fiancée, Renee Lynn. Allen, who has often remained open about his sobriety journey, wrote in his caption on Instagram with photos by Noah Dabreo: “SHE SAID YES!!!!! Merry Christmas to my beautiful [Renee Lynn]. With a sober mind, I can confidently say that I’m in love with you and want a family with you. God only knows what we’ve both been through to get here. Thank you for waiting for me. My gift is you.”
Allen’s Instagram post captures the moment he proposed, and offers a close-up look at the stunning engagement ring, which he said was custom designed by Barnes Fine Jewelers.
The newly-engaged couple shared “our story in 90 seconds,” in a joint Instagram post on September 14. Allen shared at the time that “we fell in love later in life. She’s a single mom with teenagers, living in small town Arizona. I’m a philanthropist and recovering alcoholic, living in Nashville and touring full time.” He met his now-fiancée two and a half years earlier, when he was grieving the loss of his mom and her dad was going through cancer. Allen also noted that he was married at the time (he announced that and his ex-wife opted to divorce earlier this year), and Renee’s “heart was hard from the past.”
“A lot of life happened after that moment,” Allen said. Though they didn’t speak to one another for years after they first met, “God’s timing is perfect. I chose sobriety and got divorced. She prayed for God to soften her. and we reconnected over past trauma. We both happen to be 39. We fell in love later in life, and this isn’t what we expected. But we’ve both never been happier. We believe there’s an invisible string. It tied us together that night, and over time, pulled us together. And because we’re a little older, we understand how rare this is. We protect it at all costs, and we thank God for our story.”