Weddings are special no matter where they take place, but more and more, brands are stepping in to enhance them and become a permanent “guest” in one of life’s biggest milestones. Some companies go the traditional wedding route, while brands remain true to their core products and messaging, and as a result, often go viral (looking at you and your neon-green “Wedding Crashers Wedding,” Mountain Dew).
From Bumble’s Little Yellow Wedding Chapel to Cheez-It’s Two-minute Timeout Wedding to Whataburger’s Whatawedding, we’re highlighting the pop-up wedding event strategies that take the cake, and how brands have helped couples on their way to living happily ever after.
CHEETOS
At last year’s Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas, Frito-Lay popped up The Chip Strip in front of the New York-New York Hotel & Casino. True to the city’s “wedding capital of the world” reputation, the activation’s showstopping element was the Cheetos Chapel, set up on the Brooklyn Bridge. The orange, heart-spotted chapel drew a long line of Cheetos fans looking to declare their love for one another in “mischief and matrimony.”
An animated Chester Cheetah in hologram form performed the marriage and friendship ceremonies, by the power vested in himself, pronouncing couples, who dressed up in a selection of outrageous orange wedding apparel and accessories, as “partners in mischief in puffy times or in crunchy,” and sealed with a high five.
After saying “I do,” the couples commemorated the ceremony with a short video shot while orange confetti blasted into the air, tasted Mischievous-Ever-After Cake Pops (wedding cake and white chocolate covered in crushed Cheetos, yum), and posed with a Flamin’ Hot Cheetos Rolls-Royce parked in front of the chapel. Burning love, indeed. (Partner: Proto, hologram technology)
DUOLINGO
Back when Duolingo’s bright-green bird mascot Duo was alive (it’s a long story), he officiated weddings, too (dressed as Elvis) at Duo’s Wedding Chapel, a temporary rebrand of the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas for Valentine’s Day 2024. #OrdainedDuo was the only credential we needed.
CHEEZ-IT
One more character who officiated a wedding was Ched-Z, the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl mascot. On the field of the college football bowl game in Orlando, FL, on Dec. 31, a bow tie-wearing Ched-Z joined the sweepstakes-winning couple on a trailer decorated with flowers and oversized Cheez-It crackers, as it was pulled around the stadium to give fans a full view of the Cheez-It Two-minute Timeout Wedding. The first-ever nuptials at the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl were anything but cheesy.
WHATABURGER
In December, Whataburger invited fans to enter a contest to win the Whataburger wedding of their dreams on Valentine’s Day at its Las Vegas restaurant with 75 of their closest friends and family. The day finally arrived, and Michael and Haley were chosen to tie the knot, six years after their first date at Whataburger. The brand encouraged Instagram users to follow along with the couple’s Whatawedding day in its Stories.
Photo: Courtesy of Whataburger
BUMBLE
As part of the “It Started with Bumble” campaign, the dating app known for encouraging women to “make the first move” put out a call last April to users looking to “marry your Bumble match in Vegas.” The contest invited engaged couples who met on the app to get married (or renew their vows) at the brand’s Little Yellow Wedding Chapel.
Ultimately, 33 couples were selected to take part in back-to-back wedding ceremonies as part of an all-expenses-paid trip on June 2. Bumble-themed touches included yellow carpets, yellow lighting, yellow bouquets, a yellow stretch limo, yellow-frosted cakes, specially designed newspapers and an appearance by Elvis, sporting a yellow scarf, of course.
TACO BELL
Further South on the Las Vegas Strip, the Taco Bell wedding chapel on the second floor of the Taco Bell Las Vegas Cantina offers intimate, 30-minute private ceremonies and receptions for couples and up to 25 of their guests. Participants get custom Taco Bell wedding merchandise, including a sauce packet garter and bow tie, “Just Married” t-shirts, champagne flutes, a Cinnabon Delights cake and a Taco Party Pack. The most-coveted piece of the experience? A Taco Bell sauce packet bouquet available to borrow and walk down the aisle with during the ceremony.
Photo: Courtesy of Taco Bell
DENNY’S
For one day only on Valentine’s Day this year, Denny’s hosted a free pop-up wedding chapel at its 450 Freemont Street location in Las Vegas. Interested couples could call ahead to reserve a spot to get married or renew their vows at the diner. Denny’s normally offers a $199 Vegas wedding package that includes use of the chapel, a silk presentation bouquet and boutonniere, a Pancake Puppies wedding cake, a champagne toast, a coupon for two Original Grand Slams, and a souvenir Denny’s wedding certificate.
SHEIN
Last Memorial Day weekend, the SHEIN Love Chapel was open for business. The fashion retailer presented its first wedding-focused pop-up experience at the Fashion Show Las Vegas shopping mall, where 30 lucky couples were outfitted in complimentary SHEIN wedding attire and then “married” in a non-legally binding ceremony officiated by Netflix’s “Love Is Blind” season one fan-favorites, Lauren Speed-Hamilton and Cameron Hamilton. The SHEIN Love Chapel Retail Pop-Up shop featured party dresses, bridal gowns and flirty sleepwear from SHEIN brands available for purchase, as well as bachelorette accessories and reception décor.
TINDER
In 2023, Tinder Australia introduced the Big Tinder Wedding, in celebration of the five-year anniversary of the country’s legalization of same-sex marriage. The campaign opened a nationwide call for queer couples who found love on the dating app to share why they wanted to get married with a “very extra wedding” put on by Tinder.
Chosen from hundreds of entries, two couples won and walked down the aisle in February 2024 in the wedding ceremonies of their dreams at the Royal Botanic Garden in Sydney, with a reception aboard The Jackson yacht. The couples each invited up to 100 guests to their custom Tinder-themed weddings, and the brand also chipped in funds toward their honeymoons. Tinder Australia documented the whole wedding planning process and the big days in a nine-part YouTube series.
BONUS: A POP-UP MARRIAGE LICENSE OFFICE AT THE VEGAS AIRPORT
Now through Feb. 25, Clark County Clerk’s office is popping up a Marriage License Bureau in the Harry Reid International Airport’s Terminal 1 baggage claim, open daily just in time for Valentine’s Day, allowing traveling lovebirds to skip the trek to the downtown office. No weddings will be performed at the airport; bureau staff will only issue marriage licenses and vow renewal certificates, but participating couples can pick up a limited-edition marriage certificate keepsake and “Married in Vegas 2025” heart-shaped stickers. It doesn’t get more convenient than that.
