It's a nice day for a ... Wal-Mart wedding

Most of us think of Wal-Mart as the perfect store for buying cheap videos or get deals on breakfast cereal. Recently, however, a California couple demonstrated that it is also a great place for picking up a ball and chain.

On Wednesday, Keri Cheadle and John Gates, employees at West Sacramento's Wal-Mart Supercenter, exchanged vows in their store, where they first met, began dating, and fell in love.

Oddly enough, pledging one's eternal troth in the land of the blue vests and yellow dots is not all that uncommon. For years, the company has offered its outlets as low-cost places for employees to tie the knot. One Wal-Mart manager, in fact, noted that she has seen three in-store weddings during her time with the company.

This is not all that surprising; after all, as some sites have noted, Wal-Mart has great deals on many wedding necessities, from rings to invitations to music.

For economizing wedding planners, it seems like using it as a venue would be a natural move for trimming costs. After all, why pay for a chapel or hotel ballroom when you can gather with friends and family in the lawn and garden section?

Speaking of friends and family, for Wal-Mart employees, getting married at work makes it a lot easier to gather loved ones together. In the case of the Cheadle/Gates nuptials, some of the wedding guests were even on the clock.

While Wal-Mart seems to be a natural place for its employees to get married, it seems worthwhile to start thinking about it for the rest of us.

After all, even with a drop of almost $6,000 from the year before, the average American wedding cost $21,814 in 2008.

If Wal-Mart could take a page from the Las Vegas playbook, add in a little of its famous cost-cutting measures, and hire a full-time justice of the peace, recession weddings could be the company's next big trend!

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Stores Closing Their Doors

Keri Cheadle and John Gates, employees at West Sacramento's Wal-Mart Supercenter, exchanged vows in their store, where they first met, began dating, and fell in love. In this recession, let's hope that WalMart stores stay open. Browse through this gallery to see the latest retail closings.

Daniel Acker, Bloomberg News / Landov

Daniel Acker, Bloomberg News / Landov