Reba McEntire + Rex Linn Hosted a Wedding Shower for Her Son Shelby and His Bride-to-Be
Reba McEntire is getting ready to welcome a new family member: Her son, Shelby, got engaged to his girlfriend Marissa Branch in late 2020. Recently, the singer celebrated her future daughter-in-law with a bridal shower, which she hosted with her boyfriend, actor Rex Linn.
Branch shared a series of snapshots of the event on her Instagram, featuring the happy couple posing alongside McEntire, Linn and a host of other friends and family members. In one picture, Rex and a party guest pose in a kitchen alongside the spread of party desserts, including cupcakes and cookies as well as a flower display and a few bottles of wine.
"It's taken Shelby and I two weeks to get around to this post. Between traveling and planning, it's been refreshing to take a step back and enjoy this premarital bliss bubble that we currently live in," the bride-to-be wrote alongside her post. "...It was a very wonderful and surreal moment to mesh Shelby's family and friends with mine. My heart is so full! {97 days left!}"
Blackstock, a race car driver, is McEntire's only son. His father is the singer's ex-husband Narvel Blackstock, who she divorced in 2015. He has three older half-siblings, including half-sisters Shawna and Cassidy, and half-brother Brandon Blackstock, who was previously married to Kelly Clarkson.
Late in 2020, Blackstock popped the question to Branch during a trip to Walt Disney World, in front of Epcot's Spaceship Earth. "Closing out the best year of my life the right way -- I'm engaged to my best friend," he wrote on Instagram when he shared the news.
Both Blackstock and his superstar mom have been lucky in love in recent months. McEntire's been opening up about her relationship with Linn, which began in early 2020 and blossomed over socially distanced conversations during the COVID-19 pandemic. The star is even open to the possibility of marriage -- though at the moment, she recently explained, it's just fun to talk about.
In the meantime, McEntire's stepping into her new role as mother-in-law to Branch, with wedding bells set to toll sometime in the not-too-distant future. In her Instagram post, Branch indicates that her wedding to Blackstock will take place in 97 days, which would mean the ceremony is planned for February 12, 2022.