Always have your wedding in the back of your mind.

I know, I know. Right now you’re staring at your computer, wondering how I could possibly think you’d forget about it; you’re eating, breathing and dreaming wedding. But sometimes you can find wonderful wedding ideas where you least expect them.

This weekend I went to Hampton Beach with a friend and ended up at a little Irish pub on Ocean Ave. called McGuirk’s. The band was a duo, the bar was packed and my friend and I just stopped in for a “quick drink.”

The next thing I knew, I was playing a tambourine to “Sweet Home Alabama,” and it was approaching 1 a.m. The band – just two guys playing guitar – brought a bongo drum, a tambourine and maracas, which they left out for the audience to play. Slowly but surely, members of the audience took their turn at being a rock star.

They played old favorites that the crowd couldn’t help but groove to; encouraged conga lines boogieing around the bar and sent up a round of cheers for the waitstaff. There’s nothing like a few bongo drums to get patrons on a first-name basis.

Even though I was on vacation (and really not thinking about planning a wedding), I took a moment and asked for a card from one of the guys. He said the full band runs to five pieces, and they’ve been known to do the odd wedding. Apparently, Friday nights at McGuirk’s are just a side gig. But I got the band’s Web site and I plan to go back with Ed so he can cha-cha around the bar.

I thought I had wanted a DJ. But this band really got the crowd up and moving and having fun. Above all, I want my wedding to be fun. It would certainly be a day to remember if I saw my 60-year-old Aunt Margaret playing the maracas, her trademark cigarette hanging out of the corner of her mouth and her Canadian Club on the rocks accompanying her on the bongos.

As my friend said: “If you got these guys, you’d top the weddings I’ve been too.”

Unless you have something definitively booked with a nonrefundable deposit equal to a mortgage payment, always keep your mind, eyes and ears open. You never know when you’ll run across something that will make your wedding extra-special. Even if it’s not exactly what you had in mind. Sometimes the unexpected is the most fun.

Raise your glass for a "social drink." Here's to getting the chance to play the bongos at your wedding.