Colton Dixon Marries Annie Coggeshall: 'American Idol' Alum Weds in Nashville

"I'm overwhelmed. There's so much joy!" Dixon tells PEOPLE of marrying his new bride

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Photo: David Molnar

Colton Dixon tied the knot with fiancée Annie Coggeshall in Nashville Friday evening – and yes, there were tears!

“I’m overwhelmed,” Dixon told PEOPLE just after the ceremony. “There’s so much joy!”

When Coggeshall walked down the aisle, the American Idol alum broke into a huge grin and wiped away tears, just as he predicted he would. “She was glowing and it was unbelievable how beautiful she was,” Dixon, 24, recalled. “I absolutely lost it. Audible tears. And I’m not a good-looking crier either!”

The singer, did, however, manage to hold it together later when he serenaded his new bride with a rendition of Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” a moment that was “so special,” Coggeshall, 27, told PEOPLE.

The ceremony was a family affair for Dixon, a Christian music artist who has released two studio albums since placing seventh on the eleventh season of Idol. His uncle played piano and his sister, Schyler, who had also auditioned for Idol, sang “How Great Thou Art” as the couple lit a unity candle and took communion.

The bride wore a Vera Wang gown while the groom’s outfit was a “modern, musician’s take” on a traditional tux. Even the 160 guests were asked to don black tie for the event, held at the Scarritt Bennett Center, a venue Coggeshall described as having a “formal, royal feel.”

The bride and groom, who got engaged at Disney World (Dixon hid the ring inside a glass slipper), incorporated their own storybook touches into the evening, including a horse and carriage – “like Cinderella’s!” Dixon said – to take them from their reception at Nashville’s Bell Tower. “It’s like our own fairy tale,” added Coggeshall.

Fellow Christian artist Steven Curtis Chapman made a special appearance at the reception to perform his song “Cinderella” for the father-daughter dance. “That’s something my dad and I will never forget,” Coggeshall said.

Although he’s only 24, Dixon tells PEOPLE he was more than ready to get married.

“We build each other up and we are stronger together,” he said of his new wife, whom he met in L.A. in 2012 while rehearsing for the Idol tour.

After they return from their honeymoon in Tahiti, the couple will live in Nashville at the home Dixon, a Murfreesboro, Tennessee native, has been renovating.

“We’ve never been in the same state for more than a couple of weeks at a time, so I’m excited about that,” he said. “I’m really excited to start our own life together and get to know her on a whole different level.”

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