Reality wins again

Admit it you like McDonalds.

You love McDonalds, and are counting the days until McRib season officially kicks off on November 2nd. Now there is even a better reason to stop by your local, if you live in Hong Kong.

Mickey D, in HK is now offering a wedding package. Even I couldn't make this up. Read on

They're loving it: McDonald's in Hong Kong supersize marriage

Bonnie McCarthy
Oct 15th 2010 at 5:00PM

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Filed under: Food, Family Money, Saving Money

McDonald's Hong Kong stores are super-sizing love starting Jan. 1, when couples can officially tie the knot and become McMan and McWife under the Golden Arches.

Any objections? Speak now or forever hold your Quarter Pounder.

Value priced at $400, wedding packages will accommodate 50 to 100 guests and include venue rental, bridal decor, audio system, gifts for the couple, party favors (hopefully a step up from a Happy Meal), a master of ceremonies -- and of course, happily catered meals all around. Instead of cake, think nuptial stacks of apple pies.

But before you hit send on those Evites, note this: Two round trip tickets from Los Angeles to Hong Kong cost about $6,700 on Cathay Pacific -- before taxes, fees and not including refills of Coke. Something to chew on, you might say.

McDonald's Hong Kong, however, believes plenty of folks will say "I do" to the plan. And we get called the fast food nation?

In fact, Helen Cheung, Hong Kong McDonald's director of corporate communications told the Daily Mail (UK), "Over the past two years, we've started receiving calls from people who want to have a wedding party in our restaurants. There are about 10 calls a month."

"We see this as a business opportunity," she added.

Though most American McDonald's already offer birthday party deals, Danya Proud, spokesperson for Illinois-based McDonald's US told WalletPop the company has no plans to roll out wedding packages nationally. Proud said McDonald's are locally owned and operated and make those decisions independently.

It's up to couples, then, to muster some McCourage and pop the question to their local Mickey D's manager. Some have already said yes. In 2006, Fairborn, Ohio bride Trisha Lynn Esteppe took Tyree Henderson for better or worse near the McDonald's registers where they met on the job. When deep fried leads to deep ties, score one for the workplace romance.

Before slinging judgments about weddings with extra cheese, however, it's worth noting that a recent survey by New York-based resource, The Knot, revealed "average weddings" in the U.S. cost an estimated $27,800 -- and even more in urban areas.

Maybe vowing to love, honor and offer your fries isn't such a crazy idea after all. A play area for the flower girls? I'm loving it.

But as for sharing the McNuggets, that's another story, perhaps best left for pre-marital counseling.

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Attempting this in the US may encroach onto well entrenched Hardee's territory.

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