Demi Lovato’s Husband ‘Still Can’t Believe’ Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik Serenaded Them at Wedding: ‘It Was Unreal’

If you’re lucky your wedding will have a few “pinch me” moments. But if you’re Demi Lovato and Jordan “Jutes” Lutes, one of those special memories might just involve the lead singer of one of your favorite ’90s bands singing his group’s signature Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit for your first dance.

Lutes stopped in to the Zach Sang podcast recently to chat up his new Dilworth album and describe the mind-blowing special treat the couple experienced during their May 25 wedding in California. “That was in the moment… me and Demi were looking at each other and I was just like, [whispers] ‘What’s going on right now?,” said Lutes about the all-time-high moment during the reception when the Goo Goo Dolls’ John Rzeznik serenaded the couple with his band’s beloved ballad “Iris” on acoustic guitar.

“I was like, ‘this is like the most iconic song ever!’,” Lutes recalled thinking. “He’s right there and it’s for us! Such a legend for doing that. Forever grateful. I was actually like, ‘this is actually like a movie moment. I don’t know what’s going on.’”

Lutes said the command performance was just Rzeznik playing his acoustic guitar and singing and, after earlier looking up some other unplugged versions of the song, he was expecting something pretty chill. “I was like, ‘that’s obviously what he’s gonna do,’” Lutes said. “Like, there’s no way that he’s gonna come in and just rip it. And he just ripped it! He had everyone singing… I was like, ‘dude, this is like a sold-out concert!’”

And though Rzeznik played just that one late 1998 No. 9 Hot 100 hit, Lutes, 34, said that was more than enough, since his friends are regularly hitting him up to let him know that they still think about that moment on their drive to work. “It’s one of those things where I still can’t believe it actually happened,” Lutes said with a big smile. “It’s a perfect song. It’s one of those songs where if someone is like, ‘Yo, is there a song you wish you wrote?’ It’s like the first one that comes to mind because I’m like, ‘The writing is just as good as it gets.’”

In some ways, Lovato, 33, may have manifested the moment when, just weeks after their Dec. 2023 engagement, they told Today With Hoda and Jenna that having Rzeznik sing “Iris” for them would be “so special and so incredible.”

The jangly song, from the City of Angels soundtrack, includes the bursting heart opening, “And I’d give up forever to touch you/ ‘Cause I know that you feel me somehow/ You’re the closest to Heaven that I’ll ever be/ And I don’t wanna go home right now.”

The post-nuptial glow has clearly not faded, as Lutes revealed that the couple have been “inseparable” since meeting in early 2022. “It’s sick saying ‘wife,’ that’s cool,” he said. “Like getting to call her my wife is awesome… it’s just cool. I feel like we keep getting closer and closer and closer and closer even from when we got married. It’s really awesome, it’s just, like, perfect.”

After the wedding, the Goo Goo Dolls’ Instagram feed featured an iconic black and white photo of the couple dancing, their foreheads touching, with Rzeznik playing in the background. “It was an absolute pleasure attending the wedding of @ddlovato & @jutesmusic and performing ‘Iris’ during their first dance together as husband & wife,” the band wrote at the time, with Lovato commenting, “Unreal!!!! Forever grateful and still blown away!!! THANK YOU” and Lutes adding, “Core memory 🖤 you absolutely smashed it. Thank you again! 🙏.”