People Have Tied the Knot at These Restaurant Chains – Would You?
Here’s where you can have a deliciously unconventional wedding.
Photo courtesy of White Castle
You could spend months planning your wedding and tens of thousands of dollars to make it happen. Or you could get married at a grocery store or fast-food restaurant and still end up hitched (and presumably with a good bit more money in your pocket).
Fan-favorite grocery chain Aldi is opening up the aisles of its model store in Batavia, Illinois, to one lucky couple for an all-expenses-paid, Aldi-themed wedding (officiated by a chain employee). The chain is calling the contest to choose the Aldi-loving couple “Happily Ever Aldi” and promising the opportunity to “walk down our aisle.” That got us thinking: What are some other food chains in which couples can say “I do?”
Here are a few:
Burger King: A Burger King-themed wedding may not be for everyone, but it worked for Illinois couple Ashley King and Joel Burger. Their July 2015 wedding may have been the first sponsored by the fast-food chain that bears their combined names. The bridal party sported Burger King crowns; the groomsmen wore Burger King-logo-emblazoned-T-shirts under their dress shirts and hamburger-inspired socks; and Burger King also provided “personalized yo-yos, Mason jars and Burger King crowns in gift bags,” ABC News reported at the time. Sounds like the couple’s big day was a real whopper!
The Cheesecake Factory: Apparently lots of couples have their wedding ceremonies and receptions at The Cheesecake Factory. In fact, some locations have banquet rooms you can book for just such an occasion. This location in Redondo Beach, California — with two event spaces featuring panoramic windows with views of the harbor, help with event planning, and options for plated or buffet meals — looks especially sweet.
Dairy Queen: Couples have offered Dairy Queen ice cream wedding cakes at their nuptials. (“It was a huge hit!” one boasted on Reddit.) They’ve visited their local Dairy Queen after exchanging vows. Given that, saying “I do” at the DQ doesn’t seem like a stretch. Could save you a blizzard of planning …
Denny’s: Getting married or renewing your vows at Denny’s is truly a grand slam of a deal. The family chain offers a “wedding package” for nuptials held in the chapel inside a Las Vegas location. For $199, you get a wedding officiant, use of the chapel and photo booth, a silky bouquet and boutonniere (you can choose between red, white, pink or yellow), a Wedding Pancake Puppies Cake, Champagne toast, two wedding T-shirts and a voucher for two Original Grand Slams that you can use on a return visit. Promising “THE BEST UNION SINCE PANCAKES & SYRUP,” the company adds, “Allow us to put the ‘Mmmm…’ in matrimony.” Cute.
Photo courtesy of Dunkin'
Dunkin’: For betrothed couples that run on Dunkin’, the coffee and doughnut chain released a line of wedding merch last year that includes a “Dunkin’-ized veil to walk down the aisle Dunkin’ style,” a “Dunkin’-patterned bowtie to bring a little pink and orange to a black-tie reception,” a “‘This Bride Runs on Dunkin’ satin robe for relaxing before the ceremony,” and a “Dunkin’-patterned ring bearer pillow for presenting the only ring sweeter than a donut.” You can also get customizable coffee mugs, tumblers that say “This Bride/Groom Runs on Dunkin’” and “I Do Crew,” T-shirts that say “Together + Forever” and “She/He Knows My Order” and a “Marry Me, Dunkin’” sweatshirt. The company also treated two contest-winning couples to a Dunkin’-themed wedding ceremony at a drive-thru in Wallkill, N.Y. — inspired by a couple in Oklahoma City who got hitched in 2020 at the Dunkin’ drive-thru where they first met. So if you have your heart set on coffee- and doughnut-themed nuptials, and your colors are orange and pink, doughnut think a Dunkin’-themed wedding is not an option!
Photo courtesy of Kentucky Fried Chicken
KFC: In 2019 and 2020, KFC offered six lucky couples in Australia the chance to have “the Ultimate KFC Wedding,” with “freshly cooked Kentucky Fried Chicken courtesy of the KFC Food Truck …, a KFC-themed celebrant to make it all official, a KFC photo booth to capture those happy memories, custom KFC buckets and musical entertainment to get the first dance kicked off in true style.” (Spoiler alert: The wedding singer at the first of these weddings was dressed like The Colonel, because of course.) If you want to have a chicken-lover’s dream wedding yourself, KFC does offer catering. But the part you may really want to try to replicate is the KFC-themed wedding cake topper, showing a happy couple kicking back with a bucket of KFC.
McDonald’s: McDonald’s has a formal “Wedding Party” program at several Hong Kong locations. “Our Wedding Party packages have just everything you need, including unique venue decoration, customized games and special gifts for bride & groom and your guests,” McDonald’s notes. “Everything will be taken care of by McDonald’s. All you need to do is to be there and enjoy the moment of your lifetime.” The price for a 25-person, two-hour, all-inclusive, evening wedding is HK$3,888 (or about $495 U.S.). And you can even order a multi-tier “wedding cake” made from stacked apple pie boxes (presumably with the pies inside). Yeah, we’re lovin’ it, too. While no such formal wedding program exists in the U.S., we can’t imagine anyone will stop you from exchanging gold rings beneath the Golden Arches if you try it ad hoc.
Olive Garden: The home of the “never-ending pasta bowl” seems like a pretty good place to make a commitment to never-ending love. Good thing the pasta-forward chain does cater weddings, offering “YOUR BIG DAY – THE ITALIAN WAY” with “abundant combinations starting at $12.50 per guest.” And if you opt for a full-on Olive Garden-themed wedding, you may want to take a page from this Michigan couple, who capped off their reception with a breadstick bar featuring an assortment of dipping sauces and never-ending pasta passes as favors. (Not to mention cute handwritten Olive Garden-themed signs on serving tables, carrying messages such as, “I’ll happily marinara you!”
Pizza Hut: It’s been 10 years since Pizza Hut proved it knew its way around matters of love by offering its deep-pocketed, deeply smitten, die-hard fans a Proposal in a Box, priced at $10,010, that included a ruby and diamond engagement ring, limo service, flowers, fireworks, a photosphere and videographer to record the proposal for posterity, and a $10 Dinner Box (pizza, breadsticks, cinnamon sticks). Two years after that, a couple in Salisbury, England, held their wedding reception at a local Pizza Hut, where the chain’s staff dressed up in fancy attire for the occasion and a pizza-themed wedding cake was served. In other words, for affianced Pizza Hut fans, anything seems possible.
Taco Bell: Wedding bells at Taco Bell? It’s totally a thing. “If you have fond memories of date nights at Taco Bell and sharing dreams of your next 40+ years with that certain someone. If nothing is more romantic than sharing a Baja Blast with two straws as you gaze into each other’s eyes. If the ‘Marry Me’ sauce packet is your idea of the perfect love letter and gives you all the feels. Or if you just can’t imagine sharing the bliss of wedding bells without Taco Bell, then it’s time to make it official with your very own Taco Bell wedding inside the chapel at our Las Vegas Taco Bell Cantina restaurant,” the chain boasts. The top-floor wedding chapel can accommodate couples hosting 25 wedding guests, overlooks the Las Vegas strip, and features a Taco Bell-themed wedding archway. The wedding package — priced at $807.01 (including tax, but not the marriage license … that’s BYO) for a half-hour ceremony and reception — can be booked with as little advance notice as four hours and comes with an ordained officiant and wedding swag including a sauce packet garter and bow tie, ‘Just Married’ T-shirts, champagne flutes, a Cinnabon Delights cake and a Taco Party Pack. You can also borrow a Taco Bell Sauce Packet bouquet to carry with you down the aisle.
Photo courtesy of White Castle
White Castle: If you and your intended decide to have a White Castle wedding, you wouldn’t be the first. Or even the second or third. Back in 2018, when the chain selected one grand-prize-winning couple to treat to a “royal wedding” at a White Castle in Las Vegas that “other couples can only dream about,” it noted that, in the previous 10 years alone, more than 75 couples had tied the knot at White Castle restaurants across the U.S. Gotta figure there are worse ways to slide into a future together.
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