It's a nice day for a ... Wal-Mart wedding
Filed under: Bargains, Budgets, Extracurriculars, Shopping, Relationships
Most of us think of Wal-Mart as the perfect store for buying cheap videos or get deals on breakfast cereal. Recently, however, a California couple demonstrated that it is also a great place for picking up a ball and chain. On Wednesday, Keri Cheadle and John Gates, employees at West Sacramento's Wal-Mart Supercenter, exchanged vows in their store, where they first met, began dating, and fell in love.
Oddly enough, pledging one's eternal troth in the land of the blue vests and yellow dots is not all that uncommon. For years, the company has offered its outlets as low-cost places for employees to tie the knot. One Wal-Mart manager, in fact, noted that she has seen three in-store weddings during her time with the company.
This is not all that surprising; after all, as some sites have noted, Wal-Mart has great deals on many wedding necessities, from rings to invitations to music.
For economizing wedding planners, it seems like using it as a venue would be a natural move for trimming costs. After all, why pay for a chapel or hotel ballroom when you can gather with friends and family in the lawn and garden section?
Speaking of friends and family, for Wal-Mart employees, getting married at work makes it a lot easier to gather loved ones together. In the case of the Cheadle/Gates nuptials, some of the wedding guests were even on the clock.
While Wal-Mart seems to be a natural place for its employees to get married, it seems worthwhile to start thinking about it for the rest of us.
After all, even with a drop of almost $6,000 from the year before, the average American wedding cost $21,814 in 2008.
If Wal-Mart could take a page from the Las Vegas playbook, add in a little of its famous cost-cutting measures, and hire a full-time justice of the peace, recession weddings could be the company's next big trend!
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Stores Closing Their Doors
Keri Cheadle and John Gates, employees at West Sacramento's Wal-Mart Supercenter, exchanged vows in their store, where they first met, began dating, and fell in love. In this recession, let's hope that WalMart stores stay open. Browse through this gallery to see the latest retail closings.
Daniel Acker, Bloomberg News / Landov
Daniel Acker, Bloomberg News / Landov
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
8-08-2009 @ 1:13AM
Colleen said...
Everyone wants a fairy tale wedding. But when the guests are gone and the money's spent, what's important is when the two people are home and the real unity begins. I suggest to all, celebrate reasonably, have a small, tasteful wedding 'not tacky' after all it's a special occasion. What's the point of spending 25,000.00, 250,000.00 or even 2.5 million, ( some have done the latter) invest your money in a nice home. Then invite your friends to celebrate there many times.
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8-08-2009 @ 6:27AM
jbjg24m said...
talk about a rll back special !
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8-08-2009 @ 8:13AM
bardofoc said...
WTF? Everybody just got this idea from the last scene of "Where The Heart Is."
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8-08-2009 @ 8:35AM
lonnie said...
We had a couple who met at our store and they also got married a year later in our garden center, and that was 5 years ago , so it didn't start with a movie
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8-08-2009 @ 9:04AM
hrymu said...
And the Republicans say gays will ruin Marriage.
I think the straights have already cornered that
with their divorce rate and fly by nite weddings.
Walmart weddings beyond TACKY
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8-09-2009 @ 12:51AM
Brent said...
My wife and I were invited to a big affair wedding, The open bar $5 drinks were never shut down with over 200 guests. The bride's parents gave the new couple a 3,000 sqft fully furnished new home as a wedding gift along with a honeymoon cruise. The marriage lasted 18 months. Bet most Wal-mart, Waffle House, or Las Vegas Wedding Chapel marriages last longer than that.
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8-08-2009 @ 9:44AM
chivo said...
yes i do honeymoons and most in the past spent 20K+ on them and the marriages were over before the honeymoon was paid off....so not that i want to loose the sales, but people have to get a grip on what there expectations are in live.
8-08-2009 @ 2:11PM
Nothing Wrong With Trailers said...
I so totally agree with you. My Las Vegas Wedding Chapel marriage has lasted seventeen years and is still going strong.
8-08-2009 @ 9:21AM
NickP said...
Pretty said commentary on the USA when we think getting married at a walmart is news worthy
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8-08-2009 @ 9:21AM
hrymusclebull said...
The Republicans say Gays will ruin marriage.
I think straights have done a good job themselves.
First with their high divorce rate Then tacky Vegas weddings
Now they are reaching the bottom with Walmart weddings.
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8-08-2009 @ 9:25AM
Howard said...
I think Wal-Mart is missing out on the FUNERAL business. They could put it at the back of the store, You would have to walk all the way through the store to the viewing room, They already sell flowers so that would save ordering from a florist... AND you could pick up some bread and milk on your way out...
Next should be hi rise apartments over the stores... BUT you would have to enter the store to get to your apartment...
The possibilities are endless !!!
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8-08-2009 @ 12:55PM
ScubA said...
And all that free parking is just Great too .
8-08-2009 @ 9:39AM
1_bad_MI-6_Agent said...
If your marriage doesn't work out, can you take your receipt to Customer Service for a refund? and if so, who actually gets the refund, you or your former spouse.
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8-08-2009 @ 9:48AM
Boomer said...
Way to go Walmart! First you screwed up the retail business of this country, and now you want to own every facit of American business, as well as every dollar that it's citizens spend. Sam Walton must have been Chinese, based upon the products you sell, or at the very least a Communist. Well people, hang in there, eventually Walmart will be the only place you will be able to purchase anything. Then you'll be waiting in lines to get the essentials. It all fits in with our new Comrade's form of government...
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8-08-2009 @ 5:02PM
Sierra said...
Hey! Bommer, it's obvious you don't know what you're talking about. When Mr. Sam founded the company, his motto (and way of building his business) was to buy American so we could, too. The company changed big time after his death.
8-08-2009 @ 5:06PM
Sierra said...
Hey, Boomer! It's obvious you don't know what the heck you're talking about. When Mr. Sam founded the company, and up until the day he died, his motto was to buy American so we could, too. Things went downhill in a big way after he died.
Maybe you should use your computer time to read his book. You might learn something useful.
8-08-2009 @ 5:11PM
Sierra said...
Hey Boomer, it's obvious you don't know what you're talking about. When Mr. Sam founded the company, his motto (and way of building his business) was to buy American so we could, too. The company changed and went downhill in a big way after he died.
Maybe you should use your computer time to read his book. You might learn something useful.
8-08-2009 @ 9:53AM
GB said...
Now all they need to do is sell trailers out back with all the rest of the trash...
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8-08-2009 @ 10:50AM
mark said...
you are just ignorant
8-08-2009 @ 2:11PM
Nothing Wrong With Trailers said...
To GB:
Excuse me, but you don't need to use the words trailer and trash in the same sentence. I'd rather live in a trailer than in an alley like some of the homeless people in the major cities of this country. And, if you want to build me a nice house on the lot my trailer used to sit on, then go for it!!