It's pretty hard to surprise a town that's known for wild, wacky, impromptu, and/or over-the-top weddings with...a wedding. But that's just what happened in Las Vegas Sunday night, when a couple chose to tie the knot on the stage of the 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards.

The concept behind the ACM wedding--which was broadcast live on TV along with the rest of the awards show--was actually quite sweet in theory. Country star Martina McBride, who was asked to perform her latest single "Marry Me" at the awards, had the idea that it would be fun to have an actual wedding conducted on stage while she sang the romantic ballad. McBride performs live while wedding is conducted

The show's producers agreed, a lucky real-life couple (with a unique love story) was selected for the honor, and the event promised to be a real tearjerker.

Instead...well, McBride herself admitted the day before the show that "we really don't know how [we're] gonna pull this off"--and, unfortunately, the results were indeed a bit bizarre.

How does the old song go? Don't go out a-shootin' with drinkin' on your mind? That could never apply to Blake Shelton, whose Dean Martin-esque persona always allows for the thought of alcohol, if not the actuality. So, leading an NRA celebrity shoot outside Las Vegas on Saturday, he clarified his state of mind at one of the skeet-blasting stops along the way.

"I didn't push the issue when we got here, when they said the second you have a drink, an adult beverage, you can't shoot anymore. But luckily I don't know if you can have a hangover and still do this, but I am. I didn't know where the gray area is there, but I'm definitely feeling it from last night. This is Las Vegas."

Blake Shelton, hunter of skeet

If anybody can handle his hangover under skill-requiring circumstances, it's Blake Shelton. And he's not making any promises or threats about how he'll be feeling when it's time for him to host the ACM Awards Sunday night, except... unworried. You'd expect any less from country music's king of carefree?

"Last

Everyone who is in Las Vegas the week of the Academy of Country Music Awards knows that they're going to be exposed to a whole-lotta, nothing-but, full-strength country artists. So, it may come as a bit of a surprise that Joey Fatone, whose musical fame springs from legendary boy band 'NSync, has been seen in the mix during the awards-show rush.Joey Fatone--future country star?

Turns out it's not really all that weird. Fatone is currently working in Vegas hosting the live version of The Price Is Right at Bally's. Being in town, "What better way to hang out than the Academy of Country Music Awards?" he notes, with a smile.

Okay, so Fatone is a country fan like a lot of us out there. That's understandable. However, what will probably surprise fans is a quick revelation from the performer that he's thinking of possibly making some country music of his own.

Country music is inarguably hotter than ever these days--in fact, some might say it's the hottest (or, at least fastest-spreading) musical genre out there right now. So it stands to reason that music fans might be a little skeptical about a frontman with a hard-rock pedigree deciding to make a 360-degree turn into the world of country.Aaron Lewis

But if you ask someone who's actually done this--namely, Staind frontman and country soloist Aaron Lewis--he simply doesn't care what anyone thinks. Although his career rocking out with the multiplatinum-selling Staind has been extraordinarily successful, he claims to be a lifelong country fan who doesn't believe in musical limitations.

So far, so good--Lewis's debut country/solo release, Town Line, hit number one on the country album charts upon release last year. And, he's further proved his mettle by earning a nomination for vocal event of the year at the 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards, for his tune "Country Boy" on which he collaborates with genre legends Charlie Daniels and George Jones.

Sara Evans may have taken a break from the musical spotlight for a period of several years, but it's clear she hasn't let any of her talent atrophy. The singer and mom of three is currently up for female vocalist of the year at the 2012 ACM Awards--a category with such formidable competition as Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, and Martina McBride.Sara Evans

"It's very competitive in country music, especially for the females," notes Evans, who last won the ACM Award for female artist back in 2005. "There aren't a lot of slots for female artists. It's a huge honor to be among this group."

We've seen lots of couples get married on TV these days--but here's a spin on the typical reality-TV wedding that most fans have never experienced. At the Academy of Country Music Awards Sunday evening, a real-life couple will get married on stage during the show's broadcast. And, fittingly, they'll take the plunge to the strains of Martina McBride's new single, "Marry Me"--which she'll be performing live with Train frontman Pat Monahan as they take their vows.McBride and Monahan will serenade a real-life couple on the 2012 ACM Awards

McBride admits she's the one who came up with this novel idea initially. And, while her vision was executed by wedding-gown giant David's Bridal, who put out the call for couples who'd like to appear on the show, the final decision on who would score the unconventional ceremony was McBride's alone.

How did she manage to pick just one couple out of what likely was an extraordinary pool? "I chose this couple just because of their amazing story, and all the things they had been through, to be here together," she explains.

It's safe to say that Shawna and Keifer Thompson aren't going to forget the 2012 Academy of Country Music Awards anytime in their future. The husband-and-wife pair, who perform together as Thompson Square, were presented with a huge surprise the night before the awards--an early announcement that they'd won vocal duo of the year. Keifer and Shawna Thompson show off their new ACM Awards

Now, not only was this a tremendous achievement in itself (just a year ago, Thompson Square was still in the new artist categories at awards shows), but it marks a milestone for the books. This is the first time since 1991 that a duo other than Brooks & Dunn or Sugarland have won in the ACMs' vocal duo category. (The Dixie Chicks, a trio, won in 1998 and 1999, but the category combined groups as well as duos in that slot at the time.)

Some people got phone calls to participate in the Hunger Games soundtrack album, which just debuted at No. 1 on the sales chart. But you don't think Miranda Lambert is the sit-back-and-wait type, do you? She and her fellow non-wallflowers, Pistol Annies, sought the soundtrack people out.

"We actually all three read the book, all of the girls," she says, referring to Ashley Monroe and Angaleena Presley, the cohorts in her much-lauded side-project band. "We were really inspired! I guess the way they do it usually is they show (song)writers the movie and then have them write for it. But we just were inspired by the book. And we wrote the song on the bus, and then we called our manager and asked her if there was any way she could try to get it on the soundtrack. And they loved our song"—the plaintive, spooky, supremely catchy "Run Daddy Run." "We're so thankful they let us be part of it," she says—a sentiment that surely runs both ways.

But right now, going into the ACMs, Lambert is