Last year the hot day to get married was 8/8/08 (a Friday). The year before that it was 7/7/07 (a Saturday). Next year I’m guessing we’re going to see people who can deal with Sunday weddings choosing to tie the knot on 10/10/10. Unfortunately 9/9/09 fell on a Wednesday, but that didn’t stop the the 99-Cent Only chain from cashing in on the number-number-number wedding date trend. Of course, when I say cash in, I mean they made a grand total of $8.91 by charging nine couples 99 cents each to get married in one of its Hollywood stores.
Everything from the decorations to the photo backdrops was sourced from the store itself, but the 99Cent Only chain apparently did a fairly good job of sprucing things up. Kathy Jacobs, the Discount Store Diva known for her frugal finds and creations, designed a Chanel-inspired wedding gown and created the décor for the wedding ceremony and reception using only items found at 99-Cent Only stores.
As one bride put it “We are very impressed. We are very happy. Everything’s beautiful here and it totally doesn’t feel like you’re in a 99 Cent store, until you have the backdrop of chicken noodle soup behind you when your pictures taken.”
The chain spent a bit more than $8.91 on the couples, however. All the brides and grooms received a wedding package worth over $2,599, which included accommodations at Hotel Angeleno, meals at well-known restaurants, wedding photos taken by the highly regarded Los Angeles wedding photographer Jay Lawrence Goldman, free hair and makeup by Design Visage, fresh flowers, limo service, $99.99 in cash, and a cool gift bag from 99-Cent Only.
I think if The Beard and I had spent 99 cents on our wedding, I would have taped the leftover penny into our wedding album because it’d be a great conversation starter.
Did they pay for the wedding license? And the copies? Did they go to the courthouse to apply for the license? (After driving around forever looking for parking.) And then pick it up 8 days later because we can’t give it to you right now, we don’t want you to rush into anything, and no, it’s impossible to make valid 8 days hence and let you have it now rather than returning or paying an extra $10 to have it mailed? Did they go to the courthouse after the wedding to get the official copies because it’s ILLEGAL for the pastor to photocopy the signed document?
If they did all that, they these people got a fabulous deal. I would have gotten married at the 99 cent store just not to have had to deal with the license crap.
It would seem that you live in one of those pesky ‘waiting period’ states, class factotum? We were lucky enough to be marrying somewhere not at all citified, so parking was no issue, and they just handed the license over. We did, however, have to pay x number of dollars per copy of the official doc after the wedding because we live 2,000 miles away from the courthouse.
NTB, yes, the State of Wisconsin knows better! You must apply for the license at least 8 days before the wedding because they don’t want any of that Las Vegas madness here! Not in Milwaukee! Why, what if you got drunk (the state hobby) and decided on impulse to get married right away, even though the courthouse is closed after 4:45 because God forbid a government employee ever work more than 8 hours a day plus full retirement and benefits even though private-sector employment is plummeting, and you were MAKING A MISTAKE?
Not only that, but if you have divorced, you must wait six months before re-marrying. Not that you must wait six months after filing to divorce. Nope. Once the divorce is final, even if the ex-husband filed SIX YEARS AGO and didn’t push it because his ex-wife wanted to stay on his health insurance and then she got cancer and the insurance really became an issue because during the previous six years, she didn’t get off her butt and find a job even though the ex-husband put her through college so she could HAVE A CAREER because she didn’t want to stay at home and cook and all that crap, you still have to wait six months to re-marry.
Thank you, State of Wisconsin.