Fiddler MacIsaac marries on stage

Nova Scotia fiddler Ashley MacIsaac and partner Andrew Stokes got married in the early hours of Sunday morning on stage during an East Coast Music Awards concert.

MacIsaac admitted his wedding, held during a performance at the Cape Breton Rocks showcase, was a last minute decision.

He and Stokes, an Ontario-born violinist who he met online, have been engaged since May.

"It was an appropriate time, I thought, since it was Valentine's week, for us to get married," he said in an interview with Halifax Daily News.

"We had thought about getting married for about a year and didn't know where we were going to do it without causing it to come off as a really flamboyant event."

Stokes has said he will change his name to MacIsaac and the couple are considering adopting children "in the future," MacIsaac said in an interview with CBC Television.

A spokesperson for the East Coast Music Awards confirmed Sunday that the wedding had taken place.

MacIsaac, 31, broke onto the musical scene in the 1990s with a unique brand of hard-driving Celtic punk music.

The eccentric musician, who now lives in Toronto,is emerging as a singer-songwriter.

He has had publicity for his media exploits, including announcing he would run for the federal Liberal leadership and telling a Calgary newspaper he was planning a gay wedding in that city. That wedding never took place.