CMT Awards: Sweethearts, Singers and a Snoop

The expectant parents make it a date night Monday, sticking close on the carpet before Urban took the stage to kick off the County Music Television Awards show with Brooks amp Dunn in Nashville.

"I was wanting a '20s look," Rimes tells PEOPLE of her Julia Clancey layered petal flapper dress, adding that it took her four hours to get ready. "Period hair takes forever! I don't know how they did it back then!"

Onstage, Rimes takes on another persona to perform "Nothin' Better to Do": the bad girl. "We're kind of every man's fantasy tonight," she told CMT on the purple carpet.

Underwood (in Badgley Mischka Platinum) keeps company with the boys of Rascal Flatts, Gary LeVox and Jay DeMarcus, inside the Curb Event Center. Rascal Flatts took home the "Buckle" – as the CMT Award is known – for best group video.

The Dancing with the Stars pro – who bumped into Chesney in the audience – wasn't letting the chilly air get between her and her lavender Roberto Cavalli dress. "I was so excited that it was spring time," she says, "and then I realized that it was forty-five degrees out here, but had to wear it anyway. It's so pretty."

It's nothin' but a Snoop thing: The rapper – who says country music "inspires me and it makes me feel so good hearing it" – gets a laugh out of the duo video of the year winners, Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush.

The double winner (in Balenciaga) says her "gorgeous hot pink

heels were awesome, but they really hurt so bad and I was

limping up the stairs." Her solution? To go barefoot onstage.

Before sharing the stage for their intimate duet "I Need You," the couple told CMT about their big post-show plans: "Maybe to get a burger or something," Hill said, while McGraw suggested going "to Waffle House."

The singer and Dancing with the Stars alum brought a new accessory to the red carpet: fiancé Jay Barker. But it was her Nicole Miller dress that she was really gushing about Monday night. "It makes my butt look big, and I like that," she tells PEOPLE.

The singer and his actress wife (in a Jenny Packham dress) keep their eyes on the fans as they make their way down the purple carpet.

He's the man in black backstage: The rapper, who's recorded a country song, takes some inspiration from Johnny Cash, all the way down to his boots. "These are the quarter high zip-up, the ones that Johnny used to wear," he says.

The father-daughter cohosts cozy up backstage, but onstage they playfully chided each other. "This year's shaping up to be almost as good for you as 1992 was for me," the "Achy Breaky Heart" singer joked, with Miley responding: "Oh thank you, that's because that was the year I was born, right Daddy?"

He made it in! The Celebrity Apprentice runner-up – and CMT winner – takes his girls to see Miley Cyrus cohost the show. An opening sketch had the singer on a quest for tickets along with the presidential candidates.

The Nashville Star host shines in a sweet white laser-cut lace dress by Gustavo Cadile.

It's not a secret anymore: The country couple take to the carpet together for the first time, with Lambert wearing a Betsey Johnson dress that "my boyfriend picked out for me." She tells PEOPLE: "He picked out the dress because he told me he thought you could see through it. You can't. He was disappointed."

He's really Gone Country! In the cowboy's uniform, the reality star is all buckled up and ready to introduce Kenny Chesney's performance.