Relationships

If You Get Engaged At A Panera, They Might Cater Your Wedding For Free

by Candice Jalili

Feb. 13, 2018

What are your Valentine's Day plans? You see, I'm not a big Valentine's Day person so I've never really understood the need to go all out for what I consider to be a Hallmark holiday. That being said, if you do choose to celebrate Valentine's Day, I think it should be celebrated doing exclusively what makes you and your partner happy. Don't have the taste for fancy restaurants? Head to Panera and get down on one knee... because you can get free Panera wedding catering by getting engaged there on Valentine's Day.

Wait, what...? YEP, YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY. I'm encouraging you to do a Valentine's Day proposal at Panera.

Obviously, this is only a great option if your partner is a big Panera lover. If they're not, this might be a one-way ticket to being dumped ASAP. Now that we've cleared that up, let me give you a bit more intel on why it is that you should be proposing at Panera on Valentine's Day, in particular.

Well, Panera has a competition in which they're offering to cater the wedding of five lucky couples who gets engaged at their restaurant.

So, what do you have to do to enter? Let's get into the nitty gritty. Well, for starters, do the preliminary work. You know, like deciding that you want to spend the rest of your life with this person, asking their parents for their hand (if you err on the traditional side), and, of course, buying the ring. Now that you've done all the time, it's time to put that ring in your pocket, ask your BAE to hop in the car and head to Panera. Once you arrive at Panera, you drop down on one knee and pop the question. People are obviously going to take pictures because, duh, you just proposed...at Panera. So now you take that picture and upload it onto Facebook, Twitter or Instagram along with a caption of your choosing. All you have to do is add #PaneraProposalSweeps to the end. You don't even have to buy anything when you're there to qualify! Just show up to Panera and pop the question.

OK, so when is your magical Panera proposal supposed to take place? Well, obviously it has to be on Valentine's Day. BUT WHAT TIME? According to the guidelines of the competition, you have to do it between 9 a.m ET and 11:59 p.m ET. Over the course of the five days following Valentine's Day, they will randomly pick five couples as their winners. They will notify the winners via the platform they posted their proposal on. For example, if you posted the picture on Instagram, they'll let you know through Instagram. You get the picture.

As I mentioned earlier, Panera will cater the weddings of the winners. But how much is a Panera-catered valued at? According to their site, the catering is valued at $2,000. Having your wedding catered by Panera also provides some new parameters for you when you're picking a location for the actual ceremony. First and foremost, you have to pick somewhere that's within 30 miles of a Panera restaurant that is participating in the competition. You're also going to have to find a place that has plenty of availability because the competition demands it takes place before December 31, 2019.

The last thing you have to do? Pick your menu at least a month before the ceremony. But that shouldn't be hard for any true Panera fans out there.

Now, needless to say, entering this competition is risky business. If you don't win (and the odds of that happening are very high), you will have just proposed to your partner at Panera for nothing. That's why I suggest you make absolutely certain your partner loooooooooves Panera before going through with this. Then, even if you don't win, it's cute! You proposed at their favorite restaurant in the whole wide world!

Now, there are a few qualifications you need to have to be eligible for this competition. According to their site, you have to legally be an adult, meaning you're either 18 or older. You not only have to just have a social media account but you have to be active on it. You also have to be an American living in the United States but, unfortunately, Alaska, Hawaii, Montana, Utah and Wyoming don't count.

OK, now time to go proposing at Panera!