60 People Got Married When McDonald’s Arranged McDrive Thru Weddings
Marriage was on the menu at McDonald's when 60 people got married in the drive-thru of one of the restaurant chain’s locations in Sweden. The restrictions in recent years have resulted in long queues at the Swedish city halls this summer. McDonald's, which always strives to make the good choice easy and accessible, therefore decided to open up the drive-thru for weddings – in true Las Vegas style – for one day during the busiest wedding period. The Swedish agency NORD DDB is behind the campaign.
60 people visited a McDonald's location outside of Stockholm during one Saturday in August, the busiest wedding month of the year, to get married in the restaurant's romantically decorated drive-thru. As a result of the pandemic and the restrictions that prevailed, couples were forced to post-pone their weddings. When society finally opened up again earlier this year, people were experiencing new setbacks when trying to plan their weddings – the queues to have a civil wedding at the city hall where long and the next available appointments were months away. A civil ceremony at a city hall is usually the quickest and easiest alternative when wanting to tie the knot, and since McDonald’s is well-versed in how to offer things in a easy and accessible manner, the restaurant chain decided to add a new offering to the menu – the Happy (Ever After) Meal.
To get married, the couples only had to bring an approved application for a marriage license meanwhile McDonald’s provided everything from a marriage officiant, to wedding witnesses, a photographer and even free of charge Happy (Ever After) Meals up to a value of 150 Swedish krona each. After ordering their meals in the drive-thru kiosk, the couples drove up to the first window where the marriage officiant and two wedding witnesses were waiting. Once the short ceremony was over, the couple received a marriage certificate printed on a McDonald’s receipt and could then go on to collect their wedding meals at the last drive-thru window.
"We met at a McDonald’s ten years ago and the 27th of August is our engagement day, then it felt like a given that we would get married in the drive-thru on August 27th, 2022", says Gustav Wijkander, who married Malin Wijkander in McDonald’s drive-thru.
"Things move quickly in the drive-thru, with 26 weddings in one hour. We are happy to be able to simplify even this part of life," says Staffan Ekstam, marketing director at McDonald's Sweden.
"When couples who were looking for a quick wedding couldn't get any appointments at the city hall, the world's fastest drive-thru felt like a given alternative", says Jacqueline Hellstedt, copywriter at NORD DDB.
"It really felt like a Las Vegas drive-thru wedding and it was a very nice and romantic day for everyone involved", says Sofia Nordström, art director at NORD DDB.
The campaign was communicated via radio, print, OLV, social media, and earned media.
