Growing up, my mother always used to tell me, “The two things you never cut corners on when it comes to a wedding is the food and the music – that’s all you need for a good party.” And my mom was right. When it comes to your wedding, you definitely want to make sure that the food is good.
You’ve got to have a good wedding if Whataburger is catering, right? Guess you’ll have to ask the lucky six couples in Texas who were paid this past Valentine’s Day by Whataburger to get married at one of their locations.
The grand prize winners were Sharon Arteaga and Dylan Welch from Corpus Christi, Texas who got to marry in their local Whataburger flagship location, all free of charge.
Not bad for a fast-food wedding.
Their special day included a couple of surprises, like a Ford Shelby Cobra getaway car that was Whataburger-themed, as well as an onion ring bearer, and free Whataburger meals during the reception – which was also decked out in the orange and white colors.
Their Whataburger themed wedding was actually pretty special for the couple who met and ended up falling in love while sharing a few meals at Whataburger.
Both Sharon and Dylan were introduced by mutual friends at the University of Texas in Austin. They met while on a night out at the Sahara lounge, and after the night was over, they decided to go grab a bite at Whataburger. From there, their love story took off.
As Sharon shared with Insider, there were many “big life decisions” that the couple endured while going through the Whataburger drive-through.
She said, “The Whataburger near my now-husband’s house at the time is a very busy one, so we spent time in the drive-through getting to know each other at first in the early days of us dating, but then over time we had more serious conversations. We talked about how we would want to raise future children together and got on the same page about a lot of things during late-night conversations at Whataburger.”
When it came to how Whataburger might fit into their wedding, surprisingly there’s much more of a family connection there for Sharon than others might think.
She shared with Insider how her older sister had her rehearsal dinner at the same Whataburger location where she and Dylan got married. Further, Sharon’s younger sister finished her wedding night with a 3:00 AM Whataburger run with her family.
“My older sister had Whataburger before, my younger sister had it after, so it’s only natural that I had the actual wedding at Whataburger,” Sharon said.
Their all-expenses-paid wedding was a way for the couple to get their one-of-a-kind wedding that they’ll always remember, without a necessarily huge price tag.
Sharon entered the contest in hopes of alleviating some of the stress and responsibility from her family of paying and planning for a wedding.
Her friends and family were all behind the Whataburger wedding.
“We thought we were going to get mixed reactions, but every single person we spoke [to] thought it was the most amazing thing, or that they were so jealous. They were completely down for it.
“Plus, getting married in the Whataburger’s flagship store did have some perks since the ceremony wasn’t in your typical dining area.
“We got married on the balcony which had a view of the Corpus Christi bay. I just loved that it was a beautiful day and we could see that,” Sharon said.
The best part was that she didn’t have to do anything for planning – Whataburger took care of it all. They handled everything from the cake to the decorations but were also happy to incorporate some special requests from the couple.
“We let them do as much of what they wanted to do as possible. That was one of the best parts of having someone else put on our wedding for us,” she said, according to Insider.
“We kept a lot of what we did ourselves to a minimum, but we did tell them we wanted an onion ring bearer.”
As Sharon walked down the aisle to Dylan, and the two exchanged vows, the whole ceremony was caught on a Whataburger live stream on their YouTube channel.
“We also asked if it would be alright for us to have flower girls. We wanted them to throw flower petals out of French fry cartons,” Sharon said.
The special details didn’t stop at that. There were many more.
As Sharon revealed, “Since we were at the flagship location, they also secured a vintage Shelby Cobra for us, and so we asked for an actual send-off.”
Sharon’s favorite part was their exit and send off, complete with bubbles!
“I really enjoyed that, especially since the vintage car wasn’t even advertised as part of the official contest prize.”
Part of their grand prize win was a $5,000 check to put towards their honeymoon.
The newlyweds still haven’t picked a location yet for their honeymoon, but they’re narrowing it down between Spain, Italy, or France – basically, they’re just looking for a place that has “great wine and cheese.”
While there is no doubt they will thoroughly enjoy the fine cuisine of whatever country they pick, they will still always have a love for their Whataburger orders.
So, what exactly do these lovebirds order when they go to Whataburger?
According to Sharon, “I know that Dylan’s is a number one with cheese and no onions, and I always go for a hamburger with no cheese, no onions, and a chocolate shake.”