Wedding venues busy as couples capitalize on 'lucky' day

By: ANDREA MOSS - Staff Writer | Saturday, July 7, 2007 11:09 PM PDT ∞

NORTH COUNTY ---- The number of couples tying the knot appeared to spike Saturday, as local brides and grooms tried to leverage a date associated with good fortune and other positive things into a guarantee of marital bliss.
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Managers and event planners at many of North County's most popular wedding sites said they each hosted one or more nuptials that had been booked at least a year in advance by people eager to marry on 7/7/07 because some people ---- especially some gamblers ---- view it as a particularly lucky day.

County Assessor Greg Smith, who also holds the title of county clerk, meanwhile, reported throngs of happy couples lining up to be married at the agency's Kearny Mesa office, which had bumped up its staff in anticipation of the crowd.

"We were unbelievably busy," Smith said. "This was like Valentine's Day times two."

Encinitas resident Mechelle Jarrett said Friday that the luck associated with the date was the primary reason she and Chuck Bombard zeroed in on Saturday for their wedding, after the two got engaged and sat down together with a calendar last summer.

"Both of us love to gamble," Jarrett said. "We were thinking, 'July 7 ---- it's going to be the lucky sevens,' and we said, 'Oh my gosh, that's our date.' We joke around and tell everyone we're high-rolling with the lucky sevens."

The number is also significant in the eyes of Christians, because the Bible says God created the world in seven days. Some people also speculated that a small number of newlyweds chose the date simply because it is easy to remember.

Synchronized dates come up on the calendar regularly. Examples include Jan. 1, 2001, Feb. 2, 2002 and so on.

But such dates rarely fall on a Saturday, the most popular day for wedding ceremonies. The fact that 7/7/07 did so, combined with people's desire to try to secure a little extra luck, helped make the date one of the most highly coveted in years, venue and event planners said.

Scott McDougal, general manager of Grand Tradition in Fallbrook, said all three of the weddings held there Saturday had been booked more than a year earlier.

"I probably could have booked it 20 times if I had the spots," he said. "Lots of people wanted the 7/7/07."

The story was the same at the Rancho Bernardo Inn, which catering assistant Holly Nelson said hosted three weddings Saturday, and Orfila Vineyards in the San Pasqual Valley outside Escondido, scene of a wedding booked in May 2006.

"At the time we booked it, I don't think we were aware that that date would be in demand," said Orfila events manager Steffi Habermann. "It was probably about 30 percent higher (than normal) for that particular day."

Michelle Martini-Brown, event manager for San Marcos' Old Richland Schoolhouse, said she fielded more than 200 inquires from people interested in marrying there on 7/7/07, before Jarrett and Bombard secured it.

Lesley Kirk, spokeswoman for the county assessor, said the office's Kearny Mesa branch increased its typical Saturday staff from 16 to 25 in preparation for a rush of couples who wanted the triple-seven wedding date.

Even so, the staff was stunned to see a line that went out the door and down the street to the building's corner, she said. Staff members performed 139 ceremonies, including ones for many military couples and a pregnant woman who was rushed to the front of the line after she began having contractions, by the time the office closed at 5 p.m., said Kirk.

"It was quite an interesting circus," she said. "But it was all very controlled, and we got everybody through."

Anyone who thinks the specific-date madness is over now that Saturday is past should rethink that. Martini-Brown and Habermann said people who like the consecutive number pattern in 6/7/08 have already booked the women's venues for weddings on that date.

"Everybody goes, '8/8/08 ---- oh, that's the next big one,'" Martini-Brown said. "And I go, 'No, it's not because that's not a Saturday.' "

Contact staff writer Andrea Moss at (760) 739-6654 or amoss@nctimes.com.

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