When Jenny Bryson and her fiancé, Scott Iredale, both of Port Angeles, set a wedding date, they picked the luckiest day they could imagine – July 7, 2007.
The three 7s – 7-7-7 – seemed perfect for two people who already felt lucky and who wanted to evoke more luck for the future.
“That day just sounded like it could be the luckiest day of the year,” Bryson said.
It’s a lucky combination that comes up only once a century.
So, to have it available for a wedding date – well, how lucky could you get?
The nationwide popularity of the date – www.weddingplanner777.com calls it “one of the biggest wedding days in history” and travel site www.vega.com told The New York Times that bookings were six times greater for the weekend of July 6 than for the previous weekend – is reflected on the North Olympic Peninsula, say wedding planners.
“It is crazy,” said Port Townsend wedding planner Karle Coppenrath, owner of Weddings By Design, Inc.
“It is like a phenomenon.
“I’ve even heard of some people who want to get married at 7 p.m.
“I get calls all the time looking for venues.”
Penee d’Amico, a wedding coordinator who owns Chapel Bay in Port Townsend, said she is having three weddings on the date.
The weddings have been booked since early in the year.
Since opening in 2006, this is the first time she will hold so many weddings in one day.
Manresa Castle in Port Townsend was booked up for July 7 a year and a half ago.
Preston Massey of Manresa Castle said requests for the date had been coming in up to about a month ago.
Asked if July 7 is a popular date, Massey said, “That’s an understatement.”
After a cancellation for a wedding on July 7, it was less than two hours before a new booking was made.
“I got lucky,” said Trudy Lambert of Everett, who booked her wedding to her fiancé Gary Rocker at a Manresa Castle booth at a wedding show in Everett.
She wanted to have the special date for the best bet of her life.
“He was married by the justice of the peace before, and I was married by the JP twice before, but this time we found out there will be a minister,” she said.
“It all just came together.
“I think it will be a blessed occasion.”
When the 53-year-old walked up to the Manresa Castle booth in Everett, she was sure it would be booked for the popular day, but she hit the jackpot when she found out about the cancellation.
“I put down the deposit and made the reservation right there,” she said.
The most-requested date after July 7, 2007 is Aug. 8, 2008, Massey said.
“But the three sevens in a row have been the most popular – the most popular of the millennium.”
The fact that the date is on a Saturday in the summer could contribute to its popularity, Massey said, but he thought the July 7 date would be popular even if were on a weekday because of its association with luck.