How Tyler Farr Surprised His New Bride with a Serenade by Pal Brad Paisley

Tyler Farr recruited his recent tour mate Brad Paisley to play the first dance at his wedding.

In the weeks leading up to Tyler Farr’s wedding, one important detail weighed on his mind.

His fiancée, Hannah Freeman, had hinted that she wanted the country singer to pen a tune for their big day, but Farr was at a loss. “I’ve written a ton of songs about her but she wanted one for our wedding,” Farr tells PEOPLE. “My buddy Lee Brice wrote ‘I Don’t Dance’ for his own wedding — the perfect wedding first dance song! — and I could not live up to that expectation.”

No matter how he tried, he was stumped. “I couldn’t write a song that I felt was good enough for her,” Farr says.

On tour as an opening act for Brad Paisley, Farr continued to struggle with the task until just a week before his Oct. 10 wedding date when Paisley showed him a sneak peek of his new single, “Today.”

“I was on his bus and he showed me the video and I just teared up,” says Farr, 32. “I’m very blunt and I was like, ‘That song was amazing and I want to surprise my fiancée with something really special. Would you come and play this song for our first dance?'”

Paisley was game and Farr arranged for him to surprise Freeman when the couple walked into their reception after their “I Dos” at Mint Springs Farm in Nolensville, Tennessee. Paisley, playing acoustic guitar and accompanied by his keyboardist, sang as the newlyweds danced.

“She had no idea,” Farr said of his new bride. “It was so cool of Brad to take the time to do that. He’s a good friend and a great guy.”