These numbers are flashing in their minds. They’re hoping they hit the jackpot.
But it’s no night at Vegas.
It’s a wedding. Or at least, it will be come Saturday for thousands of couples across the country.
“7-7-07 has become the most popular wedding date in history,” said Christi Vagnozzi, editor of TheKnot.com, a New York-based online registry that keeps tabs of when and where weddings happen. “There will be more 7-7-07 weddings than there were at the millennium.”
Ms. Vagnozzi says more than 338,000 weddings are planned for the much-anticipated date. Site statistics indicate that the tally is more than 28 times the 12,000 weddings that happen on an average summertime Saturday.
The site says 300 weddings are planned for 7-7-07 in the Austin area. And almost 500 are set to happen in the Waco area, said Maris Callahan from David’s Bridal, a national bridal retailer.
Local wedding hot spots are booked. At Tenroc Ranch in Salado, two 7-7-07 weddings are scheduled to take place at 7 p.m. A third is booked at Weatherstone.
Here a seven, there a seven
It’s the chance for luck that’s driving brides and grooms to the altar in droves. It’s the triple sevens, after all, that make people in Las Vegas go “cha-ching” as they hit the top slot-machine jackpot.
“No. 7 is my lucky number,” said Kayla D’Ann Baxley of Belton, the 7-7-07 bride-elect of Heath Alan Cummings of Moody. “I also wanted the wedding date close to my birthday - July 17.”
Others became 7-7-7 couples because of religion.
“Besides being easy for my fiancée to remember, the number seven has a special religious significance for us,” said Pamela Brinn Newman of Salado, the 7 p.m. 7-7-07 bride-elect of Michael Paul Serbanic of Academy. “The number seven means perfection and completeness. From the seven days it took God to complete his creation to the seven seals of Revelation, the number plays a major role in our faith.”
The Bible says God created the world in six days but used the seventh for a rest. Catholics celebrate the seven sacraments and seven virtues. And in Jewish weddings, the bride circles the groom seven times, and then the newly wed couple shares seven days of festive meals.
There also happen to be seven days in a week, seven notes on a musical scale and seven world wonders.
Oh, and, three times seven is 21; viola, you just won at Black Jack.
Everywhere a seven seven
Everyone knows a wedding is the bride’s wedding. So if the bride wants sevens, then there’ll be sevens.
“All off the programs and favors have 07-07-07 on them,” said Lauren Renee Hairston of Temple, the 7-7-07 bride-elect of Steven Layne Sebesta of Temple. “And my something blue is a 07-07-07 stitched with blue thread on the bottom of my dress.”
Miss Baxley’s ceremony will include seven bridesmaids and seven groomsmen.
And J’Lee Jonne Bratton of Salado, the 7-7-07 bride-elect of Kirby Lane Dawson of Bartlett, has 7-7-7 printed on all of her decorations.
“We had a Vegas-themed couple’s shower for good luck,” Miss Bratton said, after explaining that she won her 7 p.m. 7-7-07 wedding at Tenroc Ranch in a drawing last spring.
I’m in the money
Businesses were quick to brainstorm ways to profit from the great influx of brides.
The Ritz-Carlton New York in Central Park is selling a Lucky No. 7 wedding package.
For a group of 77, it features a seven-bottle champagne toast, a seven-tier wedding cake and seven Tiffany & Co. diamonds for the bride. Room 2007 will be available for the bridal party to prepare for the ceremony, and afterward, the couple gets a seven-night honeymoon at any Ritz-Carlton hotel - all for $77,777. The package requires a seven-day advance payment.
Six Flags will host “Thrilled Ever After: A Wedding to Remember,” in which 98 couples will be married at 7 a.m. on various rides at its U.S. parks. And as part of its “Lucky in Love Wedding Search,” Wal-Mart will marry seven couples in the lawn and garden section of seven of its U.S. stores.
Sin City - of course - is hot with the 7-7-7 bridal fever.
Flamingo Las Vegas will host a record of 77 weddings and so will the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. These places usually only host 30 weddings on a Saturday.
Mandalay Beach at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas is offering a full-scale wedding package for $1077.07. And the Ritz Carlton in Lake Las Vegas has its “Seven Ways of Wonderment” package that includes a deluxe room, seven hours of spa treatments for two, a seven-course meal and a tour of Hoover Dam -one of the Seven Wonders - for $7,707.
Stars join the 777 craze
Eva Longoria of “Desperate Housewives” plans a 7-7-07 wedding with San Antonio Spurs’ star Tony Parker. Their ceremony will take place in a not-so-desperate castle near Paris, France. And world-famous Chef Wolfgang Puck will marry Gelila Assefa at a triple-seven wedding with a three-day celebration in Capri, Italy.
Not so fast
There’s always at least one person who’s not on board with the crowd.
Numerologist Daniel Hardt, owner of the Life Path Numerology Center in Indianapolis, said 7/7/07 may not be “the best day ever” to get married.
“The date breaks down to the number five, which has an unstable energy attached to it,” Hardt recently told the New York Times. “For most couples, this is not desirable for long-term bliss.“
Astrologers are also naysaying 7-7-07 as a wedding date.
While lovelorn Venus is in sunny Leo, the moon, which governs emotions, will be in the bad-tempered Aries part of the sky.
“It is kind of a mishmash astrologically,” said astrologist Marti Goodban of Eugene, Ore., in an Associated Press report. “My experience with events like that is it depends on the two individuals.”
This is it
7-7-07 won’t come around again this century. But it’s not the last chance for a lucky wedding.
Chinese culture says eights are pretty lucky. Several 8-8-08 weddings have already been registered with TheKnot.com.
We’ll see.
--With questions or comments, email tlunsford@temple-telegram.com
