There's something new on the menu at McDonald's in Hong Kong: weddings.
Ed Jones | AFP | Getty Images
McDonald's Wedding, Hong Kong
Since January, the fast food chain has been offering wedding packages to customers at three Hong Kong locations, and according to a report in Time magazine, the demand has been brisk.
Weddings in Hong Kong traditionally are elaborate affairs, with many courses of food and a series of costume changes. Naturally, the expense of such a wedding banquet can be tough for young couples to manage, and ever since a 2006 law cleared weddings to be held in secular locations, there has been a trend toward entrepreneurs offering a variety of seemingly offbeat options for couples that want to say "I do."
Still, McDonald's is the first fast food chain to serve up wedding celebrations as a standard offering.
McDonald's basic offering, the "Warm and Sweet Wedding Package," accommodates as many as 50 guests and costs less than $1,300. For another $165, the bride can rent a gown of pearly white balloons.
Weddings also can include goody-bags stuffed with plush McDonaldland characters, or a pyramid of cartoned apple pies to serve as the cake.
A McWedding shouldn't be that surprising, given that more US companies are trying to grab a piece of the nearly $2 billion that is spent on weddings each year.
On Monday, I reported that Costco was expanding its wedding businessto include wedding gowns.
I've also seen reports of couples hosting their weddings in locations such as Whole Foods, T.J. Maxx and Home Depot.
Those locations are sometimes inspired by the couple's history—it could be the place they met or a spot they went while they were dating.
So raise a milkshake and toast the happy couples.
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