July 7, 2007: a date

Thousands of couples are betting on good luck this Saturday. About 60,000 Americans are set to wed on 7/7/07, according to wedding planning Web site theknot.com. Some are fascinated by the good fortune association with the number seven. Others cite the many mythical and religious references to the number, such as the “seven lucky gods” of Japanese mythology or the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church.

Many Washington-area wedding venues and services have been booked solid for July 7 as wedding planners scrambled to satisfy as many couples as possible.

“We knew this was probably going to be the most popular wedding date in decades, so we secured vendors very early on,” said Jenny Nemiroff, president of the D.C. wedding planning company A Touch of Sass.

About 12,000 couples hold marriage ceremonies nationwide on an average summer Saturday,according to theknot.com. Last year, some 12,226 couples said “I do” on Saturday, July 8, compared to this Saturday’s 30,000.

Several area wedding planners said that venues and services — everything from hotels to florists — were booked quickly for this lucky Saturday.

Creative Cakes in Silver Spring will be baking 21 wedding cakes for the day.

Vicky Johnson, owner of local wedding planning company Holy Matrimony, described demand for services on July 7 as “absolutely incredible.”

“I have seen backlogs everywhere,” Mrs. Johnson said. “Everybody is just getting swamped.”

About a year to nine months earlier, anything deemed reasonably priced was gone, Mrs. Johnson said. Many of the more expensive venues quickly followed.

But not all of them.

The Hilton Embassy Row reported no above-average demand for this Saturday. Neither the Grand Hyatt Washington nor the Four Seasons have a single wedding scheduled that day.

When Alexandria residents Dave Mohel and Jill Lobliner picked July 7, 2007, as their wedding date, they had little idea they were choosing what wedding planners are calling the most popular wedding date in decades.

The couple originally chose the day because it coincided with the fireworks for the birthday celebration of Alexandria, where they are holding their wedding.

Miss Lobliner said the lucky aspect of the day also helped persuade her to get married in July, despite Washington’s infamous heat and humidity.

“Originally we had no interest in getting married in the heat,” she said.

Story Continues →