Country star Alan Jackson's son-in-law dies unexpectedly after a fall — less than a year after his 'fairy tale' wedding with Mattie Jackson

Alan Jackson is mourning the loss of his son-in-law.

Less than one year after the country singer’s daughter Mattie, 28, married Ben Selecman, an assistant district attorney in Nashville, Selecman died unexpectedly on Wednesday. According to the Associated Press, he was on a boat dock in Jupiter, Fla., when he slipped and suffered traumatic head injuries.

The Davidson County District Attorney’s Office spoke about Selecman’s death, with DA Glenn Funk calling him a “rising star.” Tammy Meade, an assistant DA, said her colleague “was an old-school Southern gentleman, happy all the time, a good lawyer, a good person to be around.”

Alan Jackson, center, with his family, left to right, Ben Selecman, Mattie Jackson, Dani Jackson, Denise Jackson, and Alexandra Jackson at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Oct. 22. (Photo: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)
Alan Jackson, center, with his family, left to right, Ben Selecman, Mattie Jackson, Dani Jackson, Denise Jackson, and Alexandra Jackson at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum on Oct. 22. (Photo: Terry Wyatt/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum)

Selecman appeared on the red carpet with his country-singer superstar father-in-law, 59, in October. The whole Jackson clan — including Jackson’s high-school-sweetheart wife, Denise Jackson, and all three of their daughters — attended the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Medallion Ceremony when Jackson was an inductee. Selecman wore a cowboy hat, just like his father-in-law.

October 2017 was a big month for Mattie Jackson, who until recently owned the restaurant Salt & Vine in Nashville, and Selecman — they were married just a few weeks earlier on the Jackson family estate in Franklin, Tenn. Heartbreakingly, their “fairy tale” wedding is currently featured as the cover story of the summer-fall issue of Southern Bride. In one of the stories for the magazine, Mattie talked about planning their “dream wedding,” saying while Selecman pitched in on the prep, his take on the event was, “‘Whatever makes you happy,’” she recalled. They shared a “surprise” first dance — a two-step swing dance — to her father’s first radio single, “Blue Blooded Woman.”

Mattie also shared how they met — at a mutual friend’s wedding. They “reconnected two years later” when he was wrapping up law school and was a summer law clerk for a judge in Nashville. “He asked me out, and I said no, but he didn’t give up,” she recalled. “Three months later, I finally relented, so he drove almost four hours just for dinner, and we’ve talked every day since. He pursued me until I finally saw the handsome, outgoing, godly guy I needed.” She said she was calm at their wedding, “ready to cross the finish line,” while he “was giddy and charged like a little boy throwing his first fastball.”

In the wake of the news, the magazine paid tribute to them by sharing some of their wedding photos.

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