Mark Ballas and BC Jean Dish to Us About How They Met, Wedding Planning and their Indie Duo, Alexander Jean

The DWTS star and his fiancé, indie duo Alexander Jean, chat with Livingly - and finish each other's sentences - while discussing how she inspired him to quit smoking, for good.

Livingly: So, How did you guys meet?

Mark: We met at a singer/songwriter night. A friend of ours was having a live jam session in his living room and what he would do is stream them online and people could buy tickets to watch them perform all over live from his living room and all the money went to charity. So, he asked me to come play and I was totally down. I was expecting it to be a small, living room performance - average 20 people, and when I got to his house there was 200 people there.

[BC: It was packed!]

And when I arrived, BC was on stage singing already and she was maybe half way through her first song and I couldn’t really see her, I could only hear her because it was so packed and I remember just listening to her voice and being completely blown away and I thought ‘Wow, whoever that is has got some serious - [talking to BC] like you were in the front of the line when God was giving pipes out - and from the sound of her voice, I was expecting this hippy, Janis Jolpin looking character with dreads maybe, and after her set I saw her and I was like 'Ooh, I wasn’t expecting that voice to come out of that cuteness.' I felt compelled to come and talk to her, and you know, I introduced myself and she blew me off for 3 months.

BC: You know, this story is getting longer and longer

Mark: Eventually we went for tacos and our first date lasted 5 hours - it was awesome!

BC: I love hearing him tell the story, he tells is better than I could.

Mark: You guys got the short version.

How is the wedding planning going?

BC: Well, it’s kind of non-existent right now. When we get back to LA we’re gonna look at some venues. There's lots of things that we want that we haven’t found yet.

Mark: We were hot on it but then we ended up mixing and mastering our EP (Head High by Alexander Jean), planning the tour starting this month...

[In unison]: We’re moving!

Mark: ...which has been a nightmare. So just getting everything sorted out for this summer. Our EP dropped on iTunes finally, and that kind of took precedent. We don’t want to rush it, we wanna make sure every little detail is perfect so we will start planning during the tour this summer when we have many hours on the bus to just stare at Pinterest.

What is it like working along side each other?

BC: We love it! We get along great and we really trust each other. I think a lot of people couldn't work with their significant other but we love it.

Mark: There’s a maximum amount of mutual respect for us. For the most part we usually feel the same way on a lot of stuff, we finish each other’s thoughts and stuff but if we have a disagreement or one person feels very strongly abut certain things, the other one will usually go with that gut instinct. We trust and love each other, when we’re recording we vocally produce each other. We’re brutally honest with each other and it just works. It’s a team effort and we enjoy it.

What is the meaning of Alexander Jean?

BC: It's our middle names.

How did BC inspire you to live a healthier lifestyle?

Mark: I’ve been smoking since I was 15, I never felt like this is going to affect me professionally, but it really did start to affect me in my mid-20’s. I had quit before and ultimately would get stressed and come back to it. Affecting my work and my cardio, I made a decision that I need to put a nail in this and I need help because every time I quit cold turkey I would go back. BC was a great support system, I think that's a really big thing we’re trying to convey is that when you have good support it's always helpful, she kept me on the right track when I would have cravings.

BC: I was always trying not to be too controlling or pushy when he’s like, "I am going to stop, I am going to quit" and then he wanted a cigarette and I would say “Are you sure?” but then when he really made up his mind and went with the CQ patches, I knew it was different because when he sets his mind to something, that's it - it’s over. And now we’re starting our own family and you don’t want to bring a kids into this world and have a short-lived life due to smoking.

Tell us about the #WhatsYourWhy campaign?

Mark: Get on social media and share your stories of why you quit or why you want to quit and it's an awesome little community where people can go and talk. When you’re quitting, you feel like you’re the only one - especially when your friends around you are smoking and you’re like I'm the only one trying to kick this but you’re not alone. There's a million people out there feeling the same way and now I’ve been smoke free for 2 years now! Get out there and share your message because there’s a lot of people out there trying to quit and get it done. We wanna keep people living a healthier lifestyle.

At Livingly we 'Live Life Beautifully’ - what do you think makes a woman beautiful?

Mark: Confidence. For me, it’s personality and confidence. When I met BC, I was so drawn to that, she was so comfortable in her own skin. She didn’t feel the need to impress anyone or go out of her way to make people turn around and look, she did it naturally and that to me that is the most beautiful thing ever! Be yourself, be happy with who you are and surround yourself with good people and I think that’s the sexiest thing ever.

A big thank you to Mark and BC for chatting with us! Be sure to check out Head High by Alexander Jean and find Mark and BC performing in your city on tour this summer. And don't forget to hashtag #WHATSYOURWHY and share your reason for becoming smoke-free!