Leave it to those out-of-the-box marketing whiz kids at McDonald's to come up with yet another diabolically clever way to increase per store traffic and revenues.

According to The New York Times, McDonald's is the first fast food chain in Hong Kong to host engagement parties, weddings and receptions in their restaurants. Yes, you read that right. People are being married at the local Mickey D's.

For as little as $1,280, a happy Hong Kong couple can have a McEngagement, McWedding and/or McReception at a Golden Arches establishment. According to the Times, the price includes food and drinks for 50 people. There's a cake made of stacked apple pies (yummy) and gifts for the guests (most likely Toy Story 3 figurines). Mickey D employees dress in black suits (highly appropriate since all those empty calories will undoubtedly shorten the life of more than one reveler). They greet guests at the entrance, usher them to the signature book and deliver food. (“Would you like ketchup and mustard with your fries, sir?”).

The only shortcoming is a lack of alcohol. But, says the Times, that doesn't seem to bother anyone. Instead, couples toast with something sugary, because of the implications of sweetness in the Chinese belief system. I have to believe after downing a couple of super-sized soft drinks, the revelers are literally bouncing off the walls (but, the sugar crash afterwards has to be positively brutal.)

It seems to me McDonald's is onto something here. But, why limit it to engagements, weddings and receptions? I think this should be a cradle-to-grave marketing program. The same company that first lured your kids to a lifetime of empty calories and is now helping you tie the knot should be there to ease you into the afterlife as well.

I think a McWake and McFuneral make perfect sense since, in so many instances, the clogged arteries and fatal diseases associated with obesity were caused in part by Mickey D and its fast food cousins.

I'll bet one of the reasons Burger King constantly churns advertising and PR firms and just fired its latest chief marketing officer after only six months is because they simply get out-marketed by Ronald & Co.

McWeddings are a brilliant idea, and I and just imagine the exchange of vows:

Rabbi: “Do you Pamela MacFall take Edward to be your lawfully wedded husband in good times and bad, in sickness and in health, all the days of your life? Oh, and do you want the burger and fries for here or to go?”