MN Bride Magazine's 'Best of 2015' party was in full swing on Weds., July 15, at the stunning A'BULAE event venue in Lowertown St. Paul.

I was excited to attend as a Finalist for Best Ceremony Music. When the announcer said, "The winner for Best Ceremony Music for 2015 is Sharon Planer, Pianist for Parties", I was so excited and hurried right up to the stage to receive my award!

 I am humbled and grateful to all the brides, grooms, event professionals and others for nominating me as a finalist for the MN Bride Magazine 'Best of 2015' Ceremony Music. Your voices were heard!

There are many wonderful wedding musicians in the Twin Cities including the other two finalists the Four Voices String Quartet and the Lake Minnetonka String Quartet.

Engaged couples in Minnesota have great options for finding quality wedding professionals. A good place to start your search is at the Minnesota Bride Magazine Best of 2015!

Remember to pick up a copy of MInnesota Bride Magazine at your local newsstand or call 1-800-637-0334 for great planning tips and real wedding stories.

Pianist Sharon Planer was nominated as a finalist at MN Bride Magazine.

Couples getting married in Minnesota have a wealth of talent and dedicated wedding professionals to choose from. I love performing piano music at weddings where the professionals work together as a team to make a wedding couple's dream a reality. I recognize many of the Finalists at Minnesota Bride 'Best of 2015' to be exactly of that caliber.

I am humbled and grateful to all the brides, grooms, event professionals and others for nominating me as a finalist for the MN Bride Magazine 'Best of 2015' Ceremony Music. Many thanks!

There are many wonderful wedding musicians in the Twin Cities including the other two finalists the Four Voices String Quartet and the Lake Minnetonka String Quartet. Engaged couples have great options for live music! Check out the complete list of MN Bride Finalists for 'Best of 2015' at http://mnbride.com/minnesota-brides-best-2015-finalists

If you are planning a wedding and are looking for exceptional wedding services available in the Twin Cities and throughout Minnesota, the 'Best of 2015' Finalists list at Minnesota Bride Magazine is a great place to start your search!

Find out what happened when a judge who was hired to marry a couple never showed up at the wedding!

The Central Minnesota Wedding Association hosted its Awards Banquet last week. The 'XO' eXtraOrdinary Award was given to the 3 top stories submitted by its members. The stories were judged on how a member of the Central Minnesota Wedding Association 'saved the day' for a couple that had hired them.  The 3 stories that won were written about Larry Rowe at Impressions Mobile Music , Sharon Planer at Pianist for Parties , and Paige Meier at Carlos Creek Winery.

I will share Larry's story in this post and the other stories in later posts.

Larry Rowe is DJ entertainer extraodinare at Impressions Mobile Music

Here is what the bride and groom had to say about Larry 'Saving the Day'! 

The story began on Sept. 27 2014 . . . .

We decided to have our wedding outside in a field on our farm.  We decided to have a Stearns County Judge do the ceremony.  I sent our choice of wording for our ceremony and the address, time and date.  The Judge stated he had a wedding prior to ours but would for sure be here by 5:30. 

Larry came out earlier in the afternoon and set up all of his equipment for the music and lights. 

I was in the house getting ready and all of the guests were arriving.  We had our BBQ started and dance floor was ready for the evening.  We were ready to go... the hay ride to the field was on it's way, it was 5:30 and we were ready. 

When we got to the field we were informed there was no JP yet.  Hmmmmm ... so we said we can wait a little to see if he is just running late.  Larry came up and asked if everything was okay.  We said, "Play some music for a little bit and we will see if he shows up."  Joe's sister had googled 'ceremonies' and had a plan that we would fake it and have Joe's brother just read the ceremony. We could get married at the court house at a later date. 

Larry came over and said, "I can't believe how calm you are.  Other brides would have been crazy by now."  And that was putting it mildly!  Ha Ha.  We told him this is our life, just winging it most of the time.  He offered to check and see if a friend of his was available to do the ceremony.  We said. "Well, we will wait a little bit."  

Larry called his friend just to see if he was around and well, he was fishing.  Larry came back to tell us what he had found out.  We thought for a bit and decided, "I guess we have to pull him off the lake!"  We said, "Okay. The JP isn't showing and we better get someone here."  Everyone was getting hungry and mingling.  So Larry called his friend and asked him to come. His friend stated he had to run home and shower but would be on his way.  I said, "He doesn't need to shower, we don't care if he smells fishy!"  

We were all watching the driveway for the next car to come in and wondered who it was going to be ... the JP or Larry's friend?  Larry's friend pulled into the drive way and  he calmly came up to us asked us if we wanted anything special.  Joe and I both said, "No just lets get married and get to the dancing!"  

Larry literally saved the day, went WAY above and beyond his job.  We loved his music he kept everyone young and old on the dance floor all night.  I cannot say enough GREAT things about Larry and how he just seemed to keep everything going calmly and of course pulling a JP out of his hat was quite amazing!  

We will never forget what Larry did and how professionally he did it.  We feel Larry deserves the XO award. Words cannot explain how lucky we were to have not only a GREAT DJ but one that knew a JP!  

Find out more about Larry Rowe at Impressions Mobile Music