CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — A trip to the grocery store can sometimes lead to spending more money than we intended, forgetting items we meant to buy, or like one Arizona couple, it can be the place you say, "I do."
On November 19, Brenda and Dennis Delgado got married next to the lunch meat section and condiment shelves on aisle eight at the Casa Grande Fry’s on Florence Boulevard.
The couple tied the knot in the same spot they met in August 2021.
Bonding over their loss
Brenda was looking for Miracle Whip when a man approached her.
“We both had masks on, and I say to her ‘you know the best thing about wearing a mask?” Dennis told her. “You could pass these [people] not wearing a mask, and curse them out under your breath, they don’t hear a word you’re saying,’ and she started laughing."
That sparked a 30-minute conversation. They even blocked the aisle and went around the corner to continue their talk. It ended with the pair exchanging their phone numbers.
That following Sunday, Dennis joined Brenda at church. She not only went as a member but also took items she baked.
Baking had become a passion of hers, a newfound hobby after her husband of more than 30 years passed away from prostate cancer. She had been his caretaker during the last decade of his life.
“After my husband died, I lost my sense of purpose,” Brenda said. “That’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.”
A pain Dennis could relate to. A little over a year before he met Brenda, he had also lost his wife of 45 years. That heartbreak pushed him away from God.
“I was angry at him for taking her away from me and I wanted to apologize to him,” Dennis said.
Within months, the pair grew closer. They bonded and helped each other heal their broken hearts.
Wedding on aisle 8
Nine months after meeting on aisle eight, Brenda and Dennis got engaged in that spot.
“I told him he was going to propose on his knee,” she said. “And he did.”
Then, in that same spot, between bottles of mayonnaise and ketchup, the couple tied the knot and said, ‘I do.’
“They hid me in the aisle next to the condiment aisle,” Brenda remembers with a smile on her face.
Dennis was eagerly waiting on the other side.
“She came around. They cued the wedding march other their loudspeakers in the store. It was wonderful,” Dennis said.
Brenda wore a royal blue dress. Dennis, a sharply creased button-up. The pair were joined by family, friends, and shoppers.
Fry’s staff going above and beyond, the Delgados said. Even got them customed floral arrangements that included the condiments that brought them together—Miracle Whip and Mayo.
“It was my idea to get married there,” Brenda said. “I’m kind of weird okay.”
Although they admit it might be silly, to get married in a grocery aisle, for them it was something they felt they had to do.
“I’m 72, he’s 78 now. We don’t have that many more years to do something dumb and stupid,” Brenda said.
The takeaway they want people to remember from their love story is to never give up hope.
“On the lighter side,” Brenda said. “If you’re looking for love go to Fry’s, or don’t give up. Keep looking.”
“You never know when you’re going to walk down the condiment aisle at Fry’s and you’re going to meet someone that you didn’t know you needed in your life,” Dennis said.
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