Who's the Lucky Young Man?

Like wedding cake? You're in luck. This Saturday, July 7, 2007, is shaping up to be one of the biggest days for weddings in recent history.

The date 7/7/07, as it is known among eager brides and industry vendors, is popular among the soon-to-be-betrothed thanks to a lucky convergence of factors: A memorable date, a triple 7 which means "jackpot" to gamblers and adds up to a lucky 21, and a summer Saturday when weddings are more likely to take place anyway.

TheKnot.com, an online wedding resource with more than 1 million members, said that 38,000 of its members are planning to exchange vows Saturday, compared with the roughly 12,000 ceremonies that normally take place on Saturdays in July.

"Other than the fact that [the date] is incredibly lucky, it has significance across many cultures," says Melissa Bauer, a spokeswoman for The Knot. "It's not just a Vegas thing: the Catholic, Jewish, Buddhist, and Chinese cultures all have a mythical history around the number 7."

But there's nothing mythical about the profits that wedding vendors across the country are ringing up as a result of the craze.

"The numbers have been phenomenal," says Bud Carmichael, president of DestinationWeddings.com, an online company that helps brides plan weddings in exotic locales. "On a comparable Saturday last July, we did four times fewer weddings" than they have planned for this Saturday.

Carmichael estimates that weddings this Saturday will generate about $1 billion in industry spending worldwide, $400 million dollars of extra icing on what would already be a busy, $600 million wedding day.

One company that caters to newlyweds, Sandals Resorts, the chain of couples-oriented Caribbean beach hotels, found they were booked 10 months in advance for weddings on July 7 this year. It responded by introducing a "Twilight Wedding" package, allowing them to marry one additional couple at each of their 12 resorts this Saturday.

According to John Lynch, executive vice president for Sandals and Beaches Resorts, the package has proved so popular that the company will offer it again next year, on 8/8/08.

Even small-time vendors are feeling the pressure. Paul Rhodenizer, president of Jay's Bridal and Special Occasions, a wedding-wear store in Gainesville, Florida, says this Saturday will be the "biggest date in recent business" for weddings. He reckons that there will be three to four times more weddings taking place in Gainesville than usual.

"There's an awful lot going on," he says. "Dresses are being steamed and pressed, we're doing alterations, and now the tuxedos are coming in."

But all that marital bliss in a small town can cause some problems, too.

"The industry prides itself on backup systems," says Richard Markel, director of the Association for Wedding Professionals in Sacramento, California. "If a D.J. or photographer gets ill, they get on the phone and call one of their associates. This is going to be a different weekend--the majority of people will be busy" in the event that a replacement is needed.

Don't tell that to the many brides who've been planning their lucky weddings, some for years.

"My fiance has a big thing for numbers, so he felt like it was a lucky day," says Kristen Colleli, a 26-year-old bride-to-be from Silver Spring, Maryland. She and her intended started planning a wedding at the Beaches resort in Negril, Jamaica, a year and a half ago with the help of DestinationWeddings.com. "It never occurred to us that it would be this crazy worldwide event."

Rachel Sullivan, who is planning a destination wedding in the Bahamas, had a more practical set of reasons for choosing the date. "It's around the 4th, so people have a bit more time off."

After a pause, she added: "My fiance joked, 'I won't forget our anniversary!'"

by Sophia Banay