Lauren Alaina and her longtime boyfriend, Alex Hopkins, announced their engagement on July 21, 2018, but their love story went back much farther than that. Both Hopkins and Alaina shared their affection and admiration for each other very publicly, and both of them seemed to know how lucky they were to have each other.

The pair met on July 5, 2012 -- and way back then, Hopkins says, he would have done "anything to make her smile." Later that year, in October, Hopkins nervously asked Alaina to be his girlfriend, and she said yes.

"[Four] years later, she still makes me nervous, and I still do absolutely anything to see her smile," Hopkins shared in 2016, on the anniversary of their first meeting.

"I love him. He is my best friend. He's like an actual angel on earth," Alaina told Taste of Country of Hopkins. "He’s the most attractive man I have ever seen. Like every time I look at him — I mean, the older we get, the more attractive he gets and I’m starting to be like, 'Glad we met at 17 because you are way cuter than me.'"

Hopkins and Alaina kept their romance alive through her career's ebbs and flows and his academic and professional pursuits. They showed up to support each other at big events, including Alaina's awards shows (and big wins!) and Hopkins' college graduation in 2017, and at the small, everyday things as well.

The couple made time to get away together too: Hopkins called Alaina his "forever travel partner" while they were in Nassau and even quoted her some Brett Eldredge lyrics on a trip to Cancun.

On the fifth anniversary of their relationship, Hopkins shared how Alaina helped him through both some of the toughest times and some of the best times of his life: "Thank you for being my best friend and my main reason to smile everyday. Here's to 500 more years together!" Hopkins posted on Oct. 14, 2017.

Sadly, Alaina and Hopkins ended their engagement on Jan. 21, 2019.

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