The two began secretly dating and in 1987, Emory asked Patty to marry him. "He wanted to take me shopping. So afterwards we went out to eat and he was looking at me, and from what I hear, he was practicing what he was going to say to me. But, he was looking at me and said, 'Look. I've got something to tell you. And I really want to tell you this. I think in love with you, I think I'm falling in love with you'. And the only thing I could come back and say to him was 'I'm Flattered!' laughs Patty. The two eloped on February 6, 1989. "We wanted to get married in 88 because in radio ling, that means love and kisses. We didn't quite make it, so we got married in 89." Patty says. The couple eloped in Gatlinburg, TN, and kept their marriage a secret for a year and a half. "It was so difficult for me. Especially with him - our musician friends would say...'We heard that you guys...' and we'd go "oh nah, nu uh no....' It was so difficult! But we wanted people out there to know that I was standing on my own. And you know how stories get goin...especially a woman in this busines...its like 'okay...whose she sittin on the couch with', I'll put it nicely. And he just wanted people to know that 'hey shes standing on her own'.
Patty and Emory split their time between a town home in Nashville and a dream home they built in a small town outside Atlanta,GA. While Emory has two daughters & grandchildren from a previous marriage, he and Patty have no children together- aside from their dog, Shosta, and cat, Blue Moon.
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Patty met
her husband, Emory Gordy Jr in an elevator at MCA Records. She remembers him standing there "and he had on some white overalls and I thought 'THIS guy is a producer'?" Patty's original thoughts were that she thought the man looked like a painter - Only to find out years later, that Emory was thinking "This mousy little thing is a artist?" 
Emory has remained Patty's Record Producer, and since her switch to Epic records, he became the sole producer of her records. "I don't think I could work with another producer. I mean, never say never, but I trust him. I know he's going to be truthful. He knows when to treat me like his wife, but he also knows when to treat me like his artist. Yeah, there's times that we may be in bed and he may bring something up when we'd come home from the studio, especially when we were doing mixing and doing overdubs and things like that. We'd come home and I'd fix dinner and then I would try to bring up a conversation on what was going on with the label that day, with management, whatever. He'd say, "Excuse Me, My office is closed." And I'd look at him and go, "oh okay, got it." But that's us. It's the same for me. If he goes on and on something, I'm going "Honey, my office is closed, sorry."