Abner Ramirez remembers the first time he glimpsed his dream girl: her white sweater, the curl of her hairhow she looked right through him as she exited a Nashville church. "I'm going to marry that girl," he whispered to a friend, but four years passed before he saw Amanda Sudano again.

Friends introduced them shortly after she relocated to Nashville in 2005. This time, Abner merely yearned for "someone kind of like her." He was "burned out by the Nashville music scene" but invited Amanda to a show. "She was so encouraging," he remembers. Soon, they were co-writing songs, forming the band Johnnyswim, and falling in love. "Thank God I can sing," Abner laughs.

They decided to marry during a tour break in March 2009, and Amanda had even ordered her gown, but "I still didn't have a ring," she remembers. Abner woke her one October morning with news: instead of celebrating their third anniversary touring cherished Nashville restaurants, they were going to a little French placein Paris.

Abner claimed the ring wasn't ready, but secretly planned to propose in a dining room for two at Laperouse. Their reservation was amiss, however, and he despaired of finding a suitable substitute. It was approaching midnight as they strolled the Pont Alexandre III bridge. "I'd been planning the speech forever; I forgot it all," Abner laments. Amanda dropped down to hug her kneeling, mumbling beau and nearly knocked the ring into the Seine.

Amanda's parents, Bruce Sudano and Donna Summer, "were really excited" to host an intimate wedding for 60 at a private residence in west Florida. "I don't love sand, and I'm not a big fan of seashells," says Amanda, whose Photoshopped collage helped vendors interpret the eclectic, multicultural, non-beachy vibe she had envisioned.

During Friday's rehearsal dinner afloat, friends and family "really got to know each other," Amanda says. The next morning, she unwrapped an important package: shoes custom-designed by Louis Vuitton's Fabrizio Viti.

"The weight of the day was bigger than I anticipated," says Abner, whose emotions crested as Bella Musica Ensembles's string quartet played the Cuban love song “Como Fue?” "My dad was saying funny things in my ear so that neither of us would start cryingbut I bawled my eyes out," Amanda admits. They exchanged vows beneath a flower-adorned Indonesian daybed. After cocktails, guests enjoyed Italian, Cuban and southern dishes served family-style in an oceanview tent. "I didn't want to be one of those brides who doesn't eat; I wanted big bowls of food everywhere," says Amanda.

The grassy lawn was transformed from ceremony location to Moroccan-inspired party spot. Some danced and downed sliders and fries; others gathered around a beach bonfire. Macaroons and Parisian postcards with the bride and groom's handwritten thanks awaited their return to the Ritz-Carlton Sarasota.

The newlyweds honeymooned at Jamaica's Royal Plantation before resuming their tour. "We love being together," says Amanda of their intertwined lives and careers. "When I have a girls' night, it's fun for a little while, and then I wish Abner was there."

"We're so made for each other," Abner agrees. Whenever they're apart, he's certain: "This could probably be a little better if she was here."

> Written by Kim Knox Beckius