Deana Carter has a lot to celebrate on Saturday, July 6. First, she’s starring in new movie, A Very Country Wedding, for UPTv. And second, she is celebrating her one-year wedding anniversary with husband Jim McPhail, whom she married in a Florida ceremony in 2018.

“We’re going to go back to the venue where we got married and have dinner and they’re recreating the cake, like the whole thing, so it’s going to be fun,” Deana tells One Country.  “That’s what’s so funny is this movie is premiering on our wedding anniversary. He’s like, ‘Tell me I don’t have to watch you kiss somebody on our wedding anniversary,'” she laughs.  “I’m sure thankful in my life for everything I’ve been able to experience and do, and it’s important to look back on that stuff and revisit it, be thankful for it.”

[RELATED: “Strawberry Wine” Singer Deana Carter Weds Jim McPhail in Intimate Ceremony]

Another thing Deana is thankful for is her new role in the UPTv family movie, A Very Country Wedding. The new film is the sequel to 2017’s A Very Country Christmas, about country star Zane (Greyston Holt) who returns home to escape the chaos of fame and falls in love with a small town interior designer Jeanette ((Bea Santos).

“I love UPTv because they have such great content, family content that you can watch with your kids and your parents and everybody can be in the same room, and that’s important,” Deana tells One Country.

In the sequel, A Very Country Wedding finds Zane and Jeanette getting ready to walk down the aisle, only to be delayed by Zane’s touring schedule. As Zane tries to make it back home to be with Jeanette, the two must overcome paparazzi and rumors that could come between them.

Enter Deana Carter, who plays Jolene, a local woman who is the calming force throughout the movie.

“I’m like the town mentor,” Deana shares. “I have music in my background and ran a camp that Zane came to as a kid and so when he was struggling, he came back to me to  reconnect to his roots and be back home. I play a role that’s a mentor to him and as a result become a mentor to the love of his life [Jeanette] and she has a little girl.”

It wasn’t a hard decision for Deana to reprise her role as Jolene. “They invited me to be a part of it again, so we must have done a good job.’ she jokes.

[RELATED: Deana Carter’s Acoustic Performance of “Strawberry Wine” Will Take You Straight Back to 1996]

“But for them to expand the character like they did is what was really mind-blowing. I was like, ‘Absolutely,’ when they asked me to be a part of it and I thought it would just be a little extension of the same role. But when I got the script, I have an ex-husband and a grown daughter and we have the kids in this scene and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’  It was so exciting to see.”

Jolene also has a romantic interest in the sequel, her ex-husband Chris, played by Mike Shara. And as with all romantic interests, there has to be a kissing scene between the two. But with Deana being newly married, she ran it by her new husband.

“I had to talk to my husband—we’re newly married, a few months in. And I said, ‘Honey, there’s a kissing scene in this movie. Are you okay with it?”‘ And he said, “As long as you’re not kissing off-screen then it’s all good.”

The kissing scene is something new for Deana who, although has six movies under her belt, has never done a romantic scene in a movie.

“The actors were so supportive, because I hadn’t kissed anybody on film,” the “Strawberry Wine” singer confesses. “My videos, yeah, I kept a surfer and we rolled around, like you do, but it’s more about your songs and your music and people don’t pay as much attention. But when it’s in this love scene and it’s going to be a big deal, I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ I was so nervous. The actors were just playing pranks on me and all this stuff before we did it and it was really sweet.”

[RELATED: Carly Pearce’s Duet with Deana Carter on “Strawberry Wine” is a Dream Come True]

So with the original movie and a sequel in the can, should we expect a third installment? Maybe a Very Country Baby?

“We keep joking,” Deana says. “We’re like, “It’s going to be A Country Tour, A Country Baby, …’ We’re going to get to keep making them, maybe they’ll make a TV show out of it, it’d be amazing. We hope so. We hope Jeanette and Zane are blissfully happy and it gets to keep going because I love working with them.”

A Very Country Wedding airs Saturday July 6 on UPTv.

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