Each wedding is unique, but one that took place in Jacksonville, IL, on July 17 stands out.
When Illinois residents Joel Burger and Ashley King got engaged earlier this year and decided to take their engagement photos at a local Burger King, the photos went viral. And when the couple reached out to the fast-food chain in hopes of getting permission to use the Burger King logo on drink cozies to use as wedding favors, they got an unexpected answer: Burger King wanted to pay for the entire celebration — “a whopper of a wedding,” the company said.
“When we heard about the happy Burger-King couple, we felt an overwhelming urge to celebrate their upcoming marriage,” Eric Hirschhorn, Burger King brand spokesperson, told the State Journal-Register back in April. ”On so many levels it felt like fate; they found each other and their story found us.”
The pair have been referred to as Burger-King since they were in grade school together.
At their nuptials last Friday, they sipped from mason jars customized with the Burger King logo and posed wearing the chain’s signature paper crowns for some of their wedding photos. Joel wore Burger King cufflinks and hamburger socks (though they were subtle enough to be unnoticeable during the ceremony). The groomsmen were even provided with Burger King T-shirts to wear under their formalwear. Guests weren’t left out, either, all taking home $10 gift cards to Burger King.
The wedding party also received customized T-shirts reading “I [picture of a burger] take you [picture of a king].”
Burger King has declined to state the total cost of the wedding, but as of 2012, the national average cost for a wedding was $28,400.
Ashley will be changing her last name to Burger, the couple said, but they’ll likely always be known collectively as Burger-King.