Forget once in a lifetime: this year, thousands of couples are tying the knot on 12-12-12, a once in a century wedding date.
According to a survey by David's Bridal, approximately 7,500 brides will tie the knot on December 12, 2012. To put things in perspective, that's a 1,446 percent increase from last year's un-special 12-12-11.
What's in a wedding date?
The date is popular across the globe. French news agency the Agence France Presse reports that in Hong Kong nearly four times as many couples will be married on 12-12-12, as compared to last year, and in Singapore, 540 couples will be married on 12-12-12, eight times as many from the previous year.
Marry Abroad UK, a planning website for weddings abroad, told Yahoo! Shine it has received a 15-percent increase in inquiries about that date, despite the fact that it falls outside the traditional May to September wedding season. "The lucky couples who have succeeded in booking 12-12-12 will be amongst a very select few in the world, with such a memorable wedding anniversary," says Marry Abroad's co-founder Steph Bishop.
12-12-12 follows the trend of sequential numbers for wedding dates, like 10-10-10, 11-11-11, and 10-11-12. Back in 2007, Las Vegas's Clark County saw 4,333 marriage licenses issued around the date of 7-7-07, a huge increase, since the office would usually license only about 7,400 marriages per month.
Canadian couple Krisztina Sebesi and Rex Lu, who plan to get married on 12-12-12, have incorporated the date into other aspects of their wedding: thank you cards with palm trees with 12 coconuts, a buffet of 12 courses, and 12 starfish decorations on their wedding cake, they told The Windsor Star.
Though many assume that the symmetry of 12-12-12 will bring good luck, from a numerology standpoint, "each couple in considering when to get married, should choose the date based upon their own personal charts to be sure that the date gets the marriage off on the right foot," numerologist Daniel R. Hardt, of the Life Path Numerology Center in Indianapolis told Yahoo! Shine. "12/12/12 is popular because it is easy to remember. That date reduces to an 11 number (12+12+2012) for the marriage, a high level of spiritual awareness. It also brings sensitivity and romance to the marriage, but there is a danger of one or both parties taking everything too personally."
There are, however, a few drawbacks to the date. According to the Mayan calendar, 12-12-12 may also be the end of the world, though the exact date has been a subject of debate. And perhaps equally significant, 12/12/12 falls on a Wednesday, not a popular day for weddings. "If 12/12/12 was on a Friday or a weekend, that would be a different scenario altogether," wedding expert David Tutera told Yahoo! Shine.
Despite the spiritual symmetry, real or imagined, for some couples a weekday wedding is just out of the question.
