Macklemore & Ryan Lewis reveal inspiration for Grammys weddings

Macklemore & Ryan Lewis decided to stage multiple wedding ceremonies during their Grammy Awards performance because so many fans get engaged on stage during their concerts.

The Thrift Shop hitmakers walked away with four awards at Sunday's (26Jan14) prizegiving in Los Angeles, but it was their ambitious wedding stunt which grabbed headlines.

Queen Latifah officiated as 33 couples tied the knot in the Staples Center during the duo's rendition of gay rights anthem Same Love with Mary Lambert and Madonna, and the rap stars have now revealed their fans inspired the performance.

Lewis, whose sister and her now-husband were one of the couples to wed at the Grammys, tells talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, "Ken Ehrlich, who was the producer of the Grammys, has a daughter that's been a fan of ours for a while. And she told him that over the last year, a few different times we've had proposals on stage. People would email us and be like, 'Hey, is there any way I could propose on stage?'

"We thought it was a cool idea (to have something like that on the Grammys) and it just started building and building and turned into 33 couples. It was crazy."

While some of music's biggest stars were spotted in the audience with tears in their eyes, Macklemore admits he too became overwhelmed with emotion during the set.

He adds, "I definitely got emotional during rehearsal and during the performance. During the third verse, I started rapping and that's when the couples started to come in. And everyone stood up at that point. It just gives me goosebumps now to think about it. To watch like the Staples Center erupt and stand up and participate in that ceremony it was magic."