12月13日被指完美连续日 美新人争相预定结婚登记

想在今年完成终身大事的情侣，可以考虑将婚礼定在12月13日。错过今年12/13/14大吉日，得再等20年，下一个完美连续日期是1/2/34(2034年1月2日)。

在美国，至少已有约2万对情侣将在12月13日共结连理，那一天多数热门喜宴地点早早地被抢订一空。

不过，也有人不确定13是不是个好数字，因为在西方文化里13是个不吉利的数字。

然而今年的12月13日注定要迎来婚礼潮，因为这个特殊的日期难得一见，因而显得很特别。

Like other “iconic dates” before it, Dec. 13, 2014, is prompting couples in central Ohio and elsewhere to book it as their wedding day.

And, based on its billing, the second Saturday in December — commonly called the sequential 12/13/14 — represents the final chance of the century to exchange vows on such a distinct date.

According to a yearly David’s Bridal survey, 20,000 couples nationwide are expected to marry on 12/13/14. (About 7,000 couples, the retailer reported, wed a year earlier, on Saturday, Dec. 14.)

Kayla Smith of Upper Arlington — who remembers the buzz surrounding July 7, 2007 (7/7/07) — had wanted her wedding on such a date.

She got one, though, by accident: Not until the morning after setting the date did she realize the unusual nature of Dec. 13 this year.

“A lot of things happened, and I forgot about that,” said the 23-year-old, who will marry Nicholas Strata, 28, at the Statehouse.

“It was cool to see something that I once wanted when I was a teenager actually come to fruition.”

For other couples, though, the choice was deliberate.

“We fell in love, and we got engaged in time for us to have our wedding on this date,” said Terica Sanders, whose fiance, Tacora Johnson, proposed in January.

Sanders and Johnson, 31-year-old Dublin residents originally from Toledo, will tie the knot at the Venue at Corazon in Dublin.

The interest in the date probably stems most from the fact that the next sequential date won’t happen until Jan. 2, 2103, said Brian Beitler, executive vice president of David’s Bridal.

“Everyone is looking for a way to make their wedding special,” he said.

How many couples in central Ohio will marry on 12/13/14 isn’t clear, but Columbus-area wedding professionals generally expect the date to be popular.

History shows that couples often settle on notable dates once they realize they’re approaching, said Sara Wilson, a longtime saleswoman for Wendy’s Bridal.

“Any special feeling you can put toward the date kind of helps,” she said.

Yet some wedding professionals wonder whether some couples actually see the date as a drawback.

“I don’t know that 13 is a lucky number,” said Ann Clark, sales and event manager at the Columbus Athenaeum, a Downtown venue that has two receptions booked for 12/13/14.

Bobbie Izeman, longtime owner of a bridal consulting service that bears her name, echoed the sentiment, adding that some couples even eschew a table 13 at the reception.

Still, previous iconic dates have proved popular.

A review of marriage licenses granted in Franklin County from 2000 to 2010 (the last year with readily available data) underscores the trend: The average increase in the number of weddings on a date with same or sequential numbers from a comparable date the previous year equaled about 200 percent.

On July 7, 2007, for example, 275 couples were married in Franklin County — a 164 percent increase from the average number of weddings on similar dates from 2000 to 2010 (excluding 2007), according to data from the Franklin County Probate Court.

Each of the three other Saturdays in July 2007 yielded 132 weddings or fewer.

Wedding professionals cite several reasons for the popularity of dates with certain numerals: They allow creativity in wedding planning; are generally considered lucky; help couples (especially grooms) remember their anniversaries; and, in some cases (such as 7/7/07), reflect biblical references (the seven virtues, the seven cardinal sins and the seventh day of rest).

The appeal of the dates illustrates “a lot of core psychological processes that we’re generally not aware of,” said cognitive psychologist Llewyn Paine, who has written about iconic dates on her website.

Pattern recognition and a perception of scarcity, she said, might contribute to their popularity with engaged couples.

“Patterns are things we pay a lot of attention to,” Paine said — mainly because they help with memories.

And, she said, people tend to look at such dates as rare, making them seem special.

Even though 12/13/14 marks the last iconic date of the century, Paine said, humans are so hard-wired to find patterns that other examples will surely be noted in years to come.

Soon enough, any of the following might be perceived as distinctive: May 5, 2015 (5/5/15); May 10, 2015 (5/10/15); May 15, 2015 (5/15/15); June 10, 2016 (6/10/16); and June 16, 2016 (6/16/16).

The special day late this year, however, will arrive sooner than any of those palindromic dates for Casey White, 23, of Bellefontaine and fiance Matt Patton of Urbana.

The couple will join the others who have scheduled weddings for 12/13/14.

“I really wanted to get married in winter, anyway,” White said, “so it worked out.”