Great Big Sea perform for Mia Eriksson and Paz Blundell yesterday. (Blair Gable, Sun)

Now this is a fairytale wedding story.

Last night, Mia Eriksson and Paz Blundell capped a fabulous weekend of bridal showers and bachelor parties with their biggest surprise: A kitchen concert by Newfoundland's Great Big Sea before the band's gig at the National Arts Centre.

Eriksson, 33 and Blundell, 31, who are heading down the aisle May 20, won a private performance after Eriksson's mother entered their names in the spring promotion on CTV's Canada AM. And with early nuptial celebrations in the works, the couple added the once-in-a-lifetime kitchen ceilidh to their wedding celebrations.

Not surprisingly, many of their invited guests couldn't pass up the chance to see Alan Doyle, Sean McCann and Bob Hallett perform a five-song acoustic set in the comfortable Westboro kitchen.

Wedged between the stove and the kitchen sink, the St. John's-based band seemed right at home.

"Back in Newfoundland, we played in the kitchen because it was the biggest and warmest room in the house," Doyle, the band's frontman, observed. "Now, it's because its the closest to the fridge."

Opening with a rowdy medley Doyle described as "accordion tunes," the band played whatever their hosts wanted to hear in their 45-minute acoustic set, including an a capella The River Driver, with everyone singing along. Blundell requested a reggae version of General Taylor before the band finished with a singalong on Lukey.

"It's the first time we've actually played in a kitchen in years," Doyle joked.

"This is a real taste of home."

That was surely the feeling for Shannon Doern, whose parents own the Westboro home Eriksson and Blundell housesit. Now living in Toronto, Doern, along with husband Chris Sinden and their five-month old daughter, Bridget, were thrilled to see Great Big Sea in the house she grew up in.

"We were going to leave on Sunday after the wedding parties, but when we heard that the group was playing in my old kitchen, we had to make it a part of the weekend."

By their own count, Eriksson and Blundell have seen GBS 14 times.

"We didn't think we could top their concert in Montreal last month when we had front-row seats," said an excited Eriksson. "But this is more than I ever expected."

Meanwhile, Blundell, who teaches primary school, was simply overwhelmed at meeting his favourite band in his own home.

"It was surreal," he stammered. "It was like a dream and I just woke up. I'm speechless."