US wedding surge on 'lucky' 12-12-12

"Weddings are one of the most important and significant events that happen in a woman's life, and the ability to able to combine that with a once-in-a-lifetime date like 12/12/12 is something that doesn't come along very often," said Brian Beitler, executive vice president of David's Bridal wedding wear, told Huffington Post website.
"For a bride trying to make the most of her special day, a unique date like this, an iconic date like this, provides something that not many brides for the rest of this century are going to be able to do," he added.
The wedding supply chain estimates roughly 7,500 couples will marry across the United States on Wednesday, up more than 1,400 percent from the 485 couples who wed on the same date in 2011, RIA Novosti reports.
Among the lucky couples: Alysen Hargrove and Tommy Cowan of the US state of Colorado. They got engaged last year on 11-11-11, which also happened to be the bride's birthday.
An added bonus? A little something called the mid-week discount.
"I found a band online and I contacted them and told that my budget was a little less than half of what they charge. They said they were willing to do it for that price because it was on a Wednesday," Hargrove told the Denver Post.
For some, the number 12 is considered lucky. For others it represents faith and love. Numerologists say it's a symbol of wholeness and completion. It's also prominent for Biblical scholars: Jacob had 12 sons, there were 12 tribes of Israel and Jesus had 12 apostles.
Whatever the reason, the mid-week weddings are a boon for the US wedding industry and wedding chapels are eager to cash in, particularly in Las Vegas, a city known as much for its "quickie" weddings complete with Elvis impersonators as for its high stakes gambling casinos.
"From a marketing perspective, it's a very big deal. Numbers are associated with Vegas," said Ann Parsons, marketing director for Vegas Weddings, which runs four chapels in town, in an interview with USA Today.
Wedding chapels up and down the strip are marketing "12-12-12" packages to lure in brides and grooms. They're also marketing the next big iconic date on the calendar with "Armageddon Wedding" packages for December 21, 2012, the end of a Mayan calendar that some say will mark the end of the world.
Of course, for those who just aren't ready to tie the knot right now, there is another iconic date to consider: next November 12th, or 11-12-13.