Hitting the wedding date jackpot, 7/7/07

Last year, when Jeffrey Neale, 28, and Elizabeth Wiener, 26, were planning their wedding, Neale was more than happy to leave the details to his fiancee. That is, except one: He wanted them to be married on July 7, 2007.

"We had to get that date," said Neale, an assistant vice president at AIG Financial Products Corp. in Wilton, Conn. "Nobody is going to forget it and triple 7s are lucky."

Wiener, a graduate student from Roslyn Harbor, heartily agreed, and the couple rushed to put a hefty deposit down at the Garden City Hotel last July. They were, in a word, lucky. Shortly after, the popular wedding venue was deluged with calls from couples, requesting the same day. One couple was so desperate, they offered to buy out Wiener and Neale's contract. "I told them I'd do it for a million dollars," said Neale, chuckling. "Which was my way of saying no way."

Wiener and Neale are not the only couple to seek good fortune in their wedding date. Many couples across the country - including "Desperate Housewives" actress Eva Longoria and her fiance, San Antonio Spurs star Tony Parker - have been scrambling to tie the knot on July 7, 2007, which wedding experts say is about to become the most popular wedding date ever.

Out of 1.1 million couples registered on theknot.com, 38,000 are getting married on triple 7 Saturday, according to the Web site's recent survey. That's more than three times the average number (12,000) of weddings on any given Saturday in July, said Kathleen Murray, The Knot's deputy editor.

"Couples are very superstitious," Murray said. "So many of them are definitely drawn to the date because in Western culture 7 is a lucky number and three of them means a jackpot."

There are, of course, other reasons why couples would gravitate to that date. July is a popular month for weddings because of the beautiful weather, and this year July 7 falls on a Saturday, making it convenient for guests. Still, it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity - the next 7-7-07 won't come around for another 100 years.

Businesses are hoping to hit the jackpot, too. Hotels, catering halls, bridal shops and wedding consultants have been rolling out triple-7 wedding packages and beefing up inventory and staff to accommodate the demand.

One of the more expensive deals is the Ritz-Carlton's "Lucky Number 7 Wedding Package," which provides a wedding reception for 77 people including the bride and groom, a seven-canape tasting, a seven-tier cake, a ring and earrings set with a total of seven diamonds for the bride, and a seven-night honeymoon at any Ritz-Carlton Hotel in the world. The cost - not surprisingly - is $77,777.

"We're hoping that a couple will still book it," said Lauren Cason, a hotel spokeswoman. "Perhaps it will happen within seven days of the date."

Anthony Petronella, a sales manager for the Jericho Terrace, a catering hall in Mineola, has also received a spate of calls for that day. "We have had a flood," he said. "We had to turn people away." Even Wal-Mart and Six Flags are getting in on the act: Each is hosting wedding ceremonies for seven couples on the day. But couples looking for quickie weddings in Las Vegas should forget it. Virtually every venue for July 7, 2007 has been booked solid for weeks, industry experts say.

Other bridal businesses here have been caught in the triple-7 wedding furor as well. Nancy Aucone, co-owner of The Wedding Salon of Manhasset, said her bridal shop has been fielding more calls than usual for months.

"It has been an epidemic," Aucone said. "We have had three times more pickups [than] on any normal Saturday. It is driving our alterations department into extra evening hours, and they are sewing, sewing, sewing."

Couples who did manage to book the date are trying to make their ceremonies even more memorable by highlighting luck, or the jackpot gambling motif. Many - such as Glen Head resident Michelle Cannarsa, 28, and her 27-year-old fiance, Joseph Sikiric from Astoria - are offering their guests Lucky Seven scratch-off lotto tickets.

Others like Cheryl Lee, 31, from Oceanside and fiance Erik Quick, 32, from Floral Park, will have reception tables named after Las Vegas hotels, cocktail napkins inscribed with 07-07-07 and poker chip magnets. New Jersey residents Enza Putrino, 27, of Hoboken, and Joseph Sardella, 31, of Paramus, ordered 7-7-07 T-shirts for their guests. Their reception at Oheka Castle in Cold Spring Hills will have a massive ice sculpture with - what else? - 7-7-07. Meanwhile, guests at Wiener and Neale's reception will nibble on 7-shaped sugar cookies, and out-of-town guests will take home baskets brimming with Lucky Charms cereal, 7-Up and chocolate poker chips.

The best friend of Wiener's mother also has kept the 7 theme going strong by showering Wiener with 7-inspired gifts: a bracelet with seven coins, a necklace with a diamond-encrusted number 7 and a seven-piece cookware set. When she RSVP'd, she gave seven reasons why she and her husband would be at the wedding, Wiener said.

Wiener and Neale wax rhapsodic about the significance of the number in their program, ending with:

"Triple 7 is also considered the ultimate jackpot," the couple wrote, "something we both hit when we first met."

I’ll never forget the date of my wedding, but I do find the date of my divorce much more memorable.

4 posted on 07/04/2007 8:57:28 AM PDT by umgud ("When illegals are banned, only greedy businesses and welfare providers will have them)

My friends son and soon to be daughter-in-law are getting married on Saturday the 7th and they thought it was a great idea until they started trying to book a Reception hall, hotel rooms, wedding planner, Food, band, cake and even the Church. This one is in Columbus, OH and evidently is only one of MANY. Everything has been doubly difficult. All because of 07-07-07. How lucky is that? : )

May God bless each and every one of the marriages that day. Wouldn't it be great if they all defied the expected 50%+ divorce rate. With God's bidding, it will happen.

I would be VERY surprised if there weren’t some sort of terror event on Saturday, with a date like that. That’s too tempting for those weirdos.

My son in Oregon is getting married on July 7. It means I have to fly on the Fourth, but what the heck...it’s raining here, anyway.

The daughter of a good friend is getting married this Saturday the 7th to a young Army man, so they’re all very proud. The kids made their arrangements WAY in advance and thus avoided a lot of the hassles associated with the date.

Numerologically I’m told, the date 7-7-2007 results in the number ‘5’ (7+7+2+7) which supposedly represents fun, frivolity and non-serious activities (not that I necessarily believe in that stuff ;). It sounds like a good time to have a party, but we’re hoping that it’s also lucky for the new bride & groom as they start their new life together.

7 + 7+ 2 + 7 = 23, which is a very Illuminated number, of course.
And naturally 2 + 3 = 5, which conforms to The Law of Fives.

FNORD!!

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