Reba McEntire and her fiancé Rex Linn have been together for years, but finding time to actually plan their wedding has turned out to be surprisingly difficult. With both of them juggling demanding careers, the couple has yet to settle on a date, and Reba says the planning is not going particularly well.

The story of their relationship goes back much further than their romance. Reba and Linn first met in 1991 while working on Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw. They became friends at the time and stayed loosely in touch over the years, but their relationship did not become romantic until 2020.

From friendship to romance during quarantine

When the world shut down in 2020, the two began spending much more time getting to know each other. Since they could not be together in person, they relied heavily on FaceTime and quickly discovered how much they enjoyed talking and spending time together.

Their conversations eventually became a daily tradition they called “Coffee Camp.” Beginning in March 2020, they made a point of setting aside time each morning to catch up, laugh and simply enjoy each other’s company.

Reba described that period as particularly meaningful because they were building their relationship without any physical element involved.

“It was a very special relationship, us getting to know each other without any physical aspect to it at all. We’d talk in the morning, we started ‘Coffee Camp’ while I was staying in Oklahoma … We haven’t missed a ‘Coffee Camp’ since March 16.”

The relationship has continued to grow, and McEntire previously told Fox News Digital that she and Linn are a “perfect union.”

A relationship built around shared interests

The couple has plenty in common, from their love of the cowboy lifestyle to their careers in entertainment. Linn is an actor, while McEntire is best known as a singer, although she has also acted throughout her career. The two have now had opportunities to work together as well.

As McEntire explained:

“Well, Rex and I get along in every aspect. He’s a better cook than I am, so I like that, for sure. We love Longhorns, we love the cowboy way of life, cowgirl way of life, and we both got into the entertainment industry.”

She also joked that while they get along extremely well, they certainly are not afraid to argue.

“He’s an actor. I’m a singer. I love to act. Now we act together. So it’s just the perfect union, absolutely. And we get along great. We do argue now. We argue a lot, but we have fun doing that too.”

The wedding plans are proving difficult

As happy as the couple appears to be, actually organizing their wedding has been another matter.

In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, McEntire admitted that the planning was “not very well.” Their schedules keep getting in the way. Whenever they begin making plans, either Linn takes on a new job or they return to work on the third season of Happy’s Place, with hopes for more seasons to follow.

The bigger issue is that McEntire does not envision a simple one-day wedding. She wants the celebration to last three or four days, which makes finding the right time even more complicated.

“Not very well. Every time we plan on something, he gets a job, or we get back into the third season, and hoping for more, and you can’t plan something that we think is going to be a week or two. You know, it’s not going to be a wedding day, it’s going to have to be three or four days.”

If they eventually manage to find the time, it sounds like the celebration will be anything but ordinary.

A wedding on the farm, animals included

McEntire has already settled on one important detail: the wedding will take place at their farm in Tennessee.

And there will be plenty of four-legged guests.

The couple has grand dogs, longhorn steers, donkeys, horses and dogs, all of which could become part of the festivities. That means the wedding may require some creative planning to accommodate their unusual guest list.

As McEntire put it:

“Well see, not only do we have grand dogs, but we have long horn steers, we have donkeys, we have horses, and dogs, so it’s going to be a very unusual wedding on the farm.”

Could the wedding become a music festival?

With Reba and Linn both having extensive connections in the entertainment world, the guest list could also become complicated.

They each have their own list of friends they want to invite, and McEntire joked that leaving anyone out could mean hurting someone’s feelings. With so many musicians potentially attending, she even floated the idea of turning the celebration into something resembling a music festival.

“That’s a problem. Rex has his list, I have my list. And if we leave anybody out, we’re gonna hurt somebody’s feelings. So not sure how the music is gonna roll. It will be a festival, it would pay for the whole thing.”

For now, there is no clear wedding date. Between their careers, their plans for a multi-day celebration and all the animals that could be involved, Reba McEntire and Rex Linn have plenty to organize before they can finally walk down the aisle.

Still, the fact that they are taking their time does not appear to diminish the strength of their relationship. Their romance grew from a decades-long friendship and deepened during a period when they had little choice but to get to know each other through conversations.

When they finally do manage to bring their plans together, their Tennessee farm wedding promises to be a memorable celebration.

McEntire and Linn will also return for Season 3 of McEntire’s sitcom Happy’s Place, which will premiere this October.

The full interview is available below.