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!

When meeting with couples to plan their wedding music I also enjoy hearing how their wedding planning experience is going.  

Often one of the couples will come with their notebook organizer or phone organizer with access to details of their wedding at their fingertips.  This makes the planning go much easier for them.  

There are times when couples seem to be overwhelmed and not well organized. I am able to walk them through the music planning and break it down into an easy process.  If I sense they could benefit from outside help with organizing the rest of their wedding, I happily direct them to the event professionals that I know and trust. But now I can also direct them to some technology tools.

I found the article posted in Mpls. St. Paul Weddings by Emily Howald Sefton to be an excellent overview. There are many technology options available, but Emily highlights the 5 best tools out there...and they are easy and fun!

Read Emily's 'Helpful Tech Tools to Stay Sane'.

Emily Howald Sefton is the Deputy Features Editor and Weddings Editor at the Mpls. St. Paul Magazine.

So if you are recently engaged to be married, don't panic over the many tasks before you. Follow Emily's tech tool tips and the road map to your wedding will go a lot smoother!

Find out what happened when the dj failed to show up for the wedding!

Last week I posted one of the 'Saved the Day' Wedding Stories that were recently shared at the Central Minnesota Wedding Association's Award Banquet. 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--whose story I shared last week, as well as Sharon Planer at Pianist for Parties, and Paige Meier at Carlos Creek Winery. Today I am excited to share the amazing story of Paige at Carlos Creek Winery.

As writer of this blog I must start out by stating that Carlos Creek Winery was WCCO's "Viewers' Choice for Minnesota's Best Winery" in 2014. Not only do they have award winning wines, but award winning services!  Here is their story.

Prior to the start of the wedding ceremony our wedding coordinator, Paige Meier, noticed the DJ was missing and tried calling him. He never answered or called back.

The DJ was supposed to provide the music for the wedding ceremony. Paige's quick thinking saved the couple from a ceremony catastrophe. Paige used her cell phone to download the ceremony music based on what she had remembered from the wedding rehearsal. Whew!

The staff at Carlos Creek Winery continued to try and reach the DJ...but to no avail. Now it was time for the social hour and still no DJ, so Paige used her cell phone to provide the music. During this time the couple did NOT even notice that their DJ was a no show! They heard the music and figured everything was good.

While Paige was keeping the music gong during the social hour, the staff found out what song the couple's first dance song was supposed to be as well as some of the couple's other dance music choices.

Lucky for everyone, Josie Nelson was the music performer on the Wine Patio that day. 

When Josie finished her set. The staff asked her if she would be willing to help them out later that night and play the couple's First Dance song as well as some of their other special dance songs. Josie was a sweetheart and agreed! Since some of the music wasn't in her polished repertoire, she hurried home to learn the new music and returned. Josie got connected into the sound system and was ready to perform! CLICK HERE for Josie's YouTube channel.

The guests were now seated for dinner. Paige took over as the MC and did all of the announcing. When it was time for the First Dance, Paige made the announcement and Josie performed beautifully while the couple danced their first dance together. It was more than perfect! The couple never dreamed they would dance to a live performance of their song. Not only that, but Josie performed the mother/son dance, the father/daughter dance and a few of the first songs for the guests while Paige kept up with the announcing. 

Paige continued using her cell phone and downloaded songs as guests made requests. The guests were dancing and enjoying themselves all night long.

The wedding was a wonderful success thanks to Paige, Josie and the staff at Carlos Creek Winery! What an award winning team!

Find out more about Paige and the wonderful team at Carlos Creek Winery.