07-07-07 is called most desired wedding date in history

By Meredith Goldstein, Globe Staff  |  July 5, 2007

Of all the perfect days to have perfect weddings, Saturday may be the most perfect -- and popular -- wedding date in history.

07-07-07.

It's not just about luck. It also looks nice on invitations.

"People are booking the date like crazy," said Newton wedding planner Tasha Bracken. "You know, I haven't seen anything that's had as much hype around it as 7-7-07."

Some Boston couples snagged the date years ago, delaying their nuptials until the triple 7s arrived. Others recently figured out that Saturday is 07-07-07 and rushed for a last-minute ceremony.

"They feel like there's some luck behind the date," said Bracken, who is also president of Boston Wedding Group, an organization of vendors that will be spread thin with celebrations this Saturday.

What's happening in Boston is a national phenomenon. Event planners across the country say July 7, 2007, is the most desirable wedding date in history, thanks to the fact that it falls on a Saturday.

"Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria announced months ago that she and San Antonio Spurs basketball player Tony Parker would wed on July 7, for luck. The wedding website The Knot (theknot.com) usually has 12,000 brides registered to get married on any given Saturday in July, according to Christa Vagnozzi, the site's senior editor. This Saturday, 38,000 "knotties" are getting married.

The Knot's guide for couples having their lucky day on the lucky day includes suggestions such as "Give your wedding party iPod shuffles filled with your favorite seven songs," and "Do your first dance to the Prince song '7.' "

"Couples are superstitious. The wedding is arguably the most important day in a couple's life together," Vagnozzi said. "I'm getting the sense that when they got engaged and realized 07-07-07 was coming they said, 'Wow, let's book that day.' A lot of sites have been booked years in advance."

Nicole Simakauskas, 26, of Hopkinton, N.H., and John Topliffe, 27, of Weston, are getting married Saturday. Simakauskas has made an embroidery to display at the wedding that lists all of the important numbers. It says, "Two Hearts, One Love, 7 07 07."

"We started dating on 11-11-01, so it all made sense," Simakauskas said. "It will make us remember our anniversary."

Stacy Hennessy, an art teacher from Winchester, will marry Ted Murray, a construction worker from Burlington, on Saturday. The two met six years ago at the Billerica bar the Emerald Rose and got engaged in December of 2005. They waited until they felt right about a date. Her mother suggested 6-6-06. "I said, 'No, [that's] the devil. . . . How about 7-7-7?' Obviously, there's the luck thing. We're not big gamblers or anything. I just like numbers."

Elisabet Proppe, 30, of Needham, refused to marry her 29-year-old fiance, Aaron Levy of Sudbury, until he turned 30, too. His birthday is Friday, so the couple scheduled the wedding for the very next day in Rangeley, Maine.

"If you want numbers and symmetry, I was born 7-6-77, and my wedding is 7-7-07," Levy said. "I don't know what it all means, but it must mean something."

Keri-Lyn Mullis of Malden is having her lucky 7s wedding in Las Vegas, a city that will see a spike in tourism this weekend thanks to the 07-07-07 wedding craze, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Mullis and her fiance, Bill Crovo, got engaged in December 2005. They couldn't decide on a date but eventually noticed 07-07-07 on the calendar. Most of the Vegas chapels were already booked, but they were able to reserve ceremony time at the Vegas Adventure Wedding Chapel, which is performing at least 70 weddings on Saturday.

When the couple returns, they'll host a party for their families with a Vegas/7-7-7 theme.

"The response cards say 'all in' or 'no dice,' " she said.

For event planners, the 7s have meant a business boom. The already-busy wedding season has taken on a new urgency, with caterers, wedding bands, and venues squeezing in as many Saturday ceremonies as possible.

Barbara Kahn, a Boston-area justice of the peace, said she usually performs two to three weddings on a Saturday but will perform four services this weekend. She'll end the night by attending a family wedding in Mansfield.

"I've actually referred people to other justices of the peace because I couldn't handle them all," she said.

While 07-07-07 happens once a century, wedding vendors say the number hype will continue. Audra Siman, whose Brookline company Siman Entertainment coordinates wedding music, said the industry is already getting the sense that the popularity of 07-07-07 is making 08-08-08 the next hot date.

Even if eight doesn't have much significance in the United States, Siman says, brides who missed out on 07-07-07 will make it a big deal.

"[We] think people are going to make it lucky."

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

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