Ed Masley

The Republic | azcentral.com

When Andrea Copado wrote the message, "You're ordained. We're engaged. Please marry us tonight!" on a cardboard sign to take to Tuesday's Paul McCartney concert at US Airways Center in Phoenix, she was hoping he'd acknowledge it in some way.

Maybe smile and wave.

Instead, the former Beatle invited Copado and fiance Adam Kowal onstage in the midst of his first encore and performed a short and sweet but mostly entertaining wedding ceremony after pointing out that he's not actually ordained.

It was among the many highlights of McCartney's show, especially when the bride interrupted her own wedding vows to say, "I love you."

Not to Adam.

A clearly charmed McCartney said, "But you love Adam more," to which Copado quickly answered, "That's debatable."

After pronouncing the Phoenix couple man and wife, McCartney cautioned, "I'm not sure that this is gonna stand up in a court of law."

But as far as Copado's concerned, "If Paul McCartney says I'm married, I'm married."

Speaking by phone a day after the concert/wedding, her voice still raspy from the screaming, Copado, 29, says, "No paperwork was involved. I mean, I guess you could count our sign that he signed as the wedding certificate."

And there several thousand witnesses.

It was a big night for Copado. And not just because she was married.

"When I was going to the concert," she says, "I felt like 'This is my one chance to meet my biggest idol. My bucket list.' And I figured, 'Go big or go home.' And honestly, I always said that if I ever met Paul McCartney, I wanted to thank him because his music has always meant so much to me throughout my life. So I got to say that to him while he was giving us a hug. And he said, 'Thank you. That means a lot.' "

Reminded that she told McCartney "That's debatable" when he said "You love Adam more," Copado laughs at the memory and says, "Adam knows where he stands in my heart, but Paul McCartney, he's my idol."

So what does Kowal have to say about it?

He laughs it off. "Yeah, I was expecting that. Paul's meant so much to her."

The whole experience, he says, was "just incredible."

"I can't believe any of that happened," he says. "It was her dream of a lifetime to meet Paul McCartney, so as soon as I was able to get great tickets, she was figuring out a way that she could get to meet him. So during the day, she put that sign together. We were talking throughout the day about the best wording and how could we get his attention. The fact that he actually saw us and acknowledged the sign, we were amazed. And then, minutes later, an usher came by and called us over to go backstage."

McCartney's crew was very friendly, Kowal says. "They kept reminding Andrea to breathe."

When asked if they could choose a favorite part of Tuesday's concert other than the wedding ceremony, both Copado and her future (if not current) husband, Kowal, pick the Beatles classic "I've Just Seen a Face."

And their appreciation goes beyond the timeless folk-rock melody.

"When Adam proposed to me at Ak-Chin Pavilion," Copado recalls, "he had a jazz trio in to play that song because that song just kind of totally screams us when we first met."

Why Ak-Chin Pavilion?

It's where they met. But not at a McCartney concert.

It was Jimmy Buffett.

As the couple was leaving the stage on Tuesday, Copado invited the former Beatle to the proper wedding this November in Chicago.

Does she think he'll make it?

"We're gonna have a spot for him there," she says. "So let's hope he comes."