Who Is Sara Bareilles' Fiancé? All About Joe Tippett

Sara Bareilles and Joe Tippett have Waitress to thank for their love story.

The two first met in 2015 while working together on the musical during its out-of-town tryout at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

While Bareilles famously wrote the score for the show, Tippett played Earl, the moody husband of the story's protagonist, Jenna, before the show's official move to Broadway.

In 2017, the two went public with their romance as they attended a handful of events together, including the opening night for The New Group's play All the Fine Boys, PEOPLE and EW's Upfronts Party and the 2017 Tony Awards.

Now, the couple is set to tie the knot. On New Year's Day in 2023, the singer announced her engagement to Tippett, writing, "Yes to marrying this man. It's an easy, earned, relaxed YES."

From his acting background to his relationship milestones with Bareilles, here's everything to know about Tippett.

He has starred in Waitress several times

After making his Broadway debut in Airline Highway in 2015, Tippett played Earl Hunterson in the American Repertory Theater production of Waitress.

Though he didn't initially transfer with the production when it first moved to Broadway in April 2016, he did take on the Broadway role a year later as he succeeded Will Swenson.

After the production closed in January 2020, the show returned in a limited engagement in 2021, with Bareilles as the lead role of Jenna and Tippett as her on-stage husband Earl.

He's been in some big movies and TV shows

Aside from acting on the stage, Tippett has been in a handful of TV shows and movies. Notably, he played Coach Sam Strickland on NBC's short-lived series Rise and Doolittle "Mooney" Lynn on the Lifetime TV movie Patsy & Loretta.

Most recently, he was in the 2021 miniseries Mare of Easttown and the 2022 musical movie Spirited starring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds.

His brother got him into theater

During an interview with Broadway.com, Tippett revealed that it was actually his brother who encouraged him to get into theater. "My brother got me into theater when they were shorthanded for the school production of Bye Bye Birdie," he explained. "I was just picking up girls — lifting them, not hitting on them. Well, maybe a little of both."

He played football in high school

In addition to doing small school productions in high school, Tippett was quite the athlete, playing football for Damascus High School in Damascus, Maryland.

"I could've gone to college on an athletic scholarship, but I'd started dabbling in theatre and became interested in that," he told StageBuddy about his sports career.

He and Bareilles went public with their romance in 2017

After working together on Waitress during its out-of-town tryout at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the two went public with their romance in 2017 as they posed together at the opening night for All the Fine Boys, starring Tippett.

They later took their romance to the Tony Awards as they walked the red carpet together at the 2017 ceremony, where Bareilles presented on stage alongside Patina Miller.

In June 2023, the couple returned to the Tony Awards as Bareilles was nominated for leading actress in a musical role in the revival of Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods.

The pair celebrated eight years together in September 2023. Bareilles honored the day by posting about Tippett on Instagram.

"@joetipps you are infinite and you fascinate me," Bareilles wrote. "From your very particular feelings about wet sponges or how the silverware gets loaded in a dishwasher, to your playful otter spirit, sense of adventure and the uncanny ability to find music and art in absolutely everything… you are my favorite and most unpredictable person. I am the luckiest to love you and I intend to keep getting better at it."

The actor returned the sentiment in a post of his own.

"I love the way you love me. I am addicted to the sound of your laugh. I am in constant awe at the size of your heart and the art that spills from it," he said on Instagram. "Knowing my soul is braided together with yours means I will never not have a home and that is my most valued treasure."

He and Bareilles share a dog named Louie

In early 2022, the two got a sweet puppy named Louie, who they regularly post about on their social media pages. "My boys. @joetipps #louiethedogofmydreams," the singer captioned a photo of Tippett and their dog on Instagram in April 2022.

He and Bareilles are engaged

In January 2023, Bareilles and Tippett announced their engagement. The Mare of Easttown star proposed with a unique gold feather band.

"@joetipps you are exactly who I want. The more I know you the more I know I love you…and you have introduced me to parts of myself I was afraid to love," the "Brave" singer wrote on Instagram. "What a gift you are. Let the games begin. Onward into absolutely everything with you."

In March 2024, Bareilles gave PEOPLE an update on wedding planning, explaining that she doesn't "want it to become about producing a big party." Her two must-haves, however, are "delicious food and people being warm."

Bareilles continued, "I want to be rooted in the joy and the celebration of finding someone I love this much and wanting to shout it from the mountaintops."