7/7/07 luckiest day of the century

July 7, 2007 the luckiest day of the century, a time to take chances on love and lottery tickets and all things uncertain.

As numbers go, seven is a big one. There are seven days in a week, seven notes on a musical scale, seven colors of the rainbow, seven wonders of the world and seven deadly sins. Catholics celebrate seven sacraments and seven virtues. Buddha was said to have walked seven steps at birth. And in Islamic tradition, seven symbolizes infinity.

Everything in Bangladesh is presumed to be well after 7/7/07. The country is set to hold national election before the end of 2008. The country is witnessing a crusade against corruption though the democracy seems to be in turmoil.

More weddings were held Saturday than on any day in recent history, experts said. Hotels offered commemorative 777 packages, a pizza chain was given away 777 pizzas, a state lottery offered 7,777 prizes, and an insurance company announced a "wedding protector plan" -- just in case the numbers aren't so perfectly aligned.

"We've never seen anything like this in terms of weddings," said Kathleen Murray, deputy editor of TheKnot.com, an online wedding planner that has registered 38,000 weddings for Saturday, more than three times the average number of nuptials on any given Saturday in July.

"The horoscope for Saturday doesn't look especially lucky. Mercury is in retrograde. It's a time of emotional tensions," he said. The position of Venus related to Pluto "means there can be a sudden rush of passion and lust. So, people may get lucky in terms of sex -- but that doesn't mean lucky in love. I wouldn't be rushing to get married on this date, unless, of course, it's been a long-term relationship."

Of course, another lucky date is a little over a year away: 8/8/08 is considered especially auspicious in China, where the number eight is a homonym for "to make money." The summer Olympics in Beijing will start at 8:08 p.m. on 8/8/08.

"We're also hearing about more and more businesses across the United States that are responding to this date," Murray said. "Ninety-eight couples are getting married at 7 a.m. on different rides at Six Flags. Seven couples will marry in the lawn and garden section of Wal-Mart stores. And Vegas is really getting in on act."

"The significance of seven connects to traditional metaphysical themes," said Jack Fertig, a San Francisco astrologer and syndicated columnist. "It's the pre-Copernicus model of seven planets and seven heavens and this sense of everything being completed in seven days."

Yet, as for the once-in-a-lifetime occurrence of triple 7, Fertig is astrologically unimpressed.

Christopher Huang and Kelly Martin of Honolulu will marry Saturday at a private estate in St. Helena. The two have been together for seven years and have seven people in their wedding party. The choice of 7/7/07 as their wedding date was more serendipity than serious planning, however.

"It was really by luck that it happened on this date," Huang said. "But as soon as we started planning, we realized we had seven of this and seven of that. My lucky number was 12, but now it clearly has to be seven."

Brittany Bunfill and Zach Sikora of San Francisco also plan to wed Saturday. The signature cocktail to be served at their reception at the Silverado Resort in Napa will be 7&7 -- Seagram's 7 and 7-Up.

"We set our date before the 777 craze started," Bunfill said. "I think my fiance was more excited than I was about the date. Of course, he jokes that it's great because he'll never forget our anniversary date. "

The perceived lucky day translates to lucrative times for merchants.

Elaine Bell of Elaine Bell Catering in Napa calls 777 "quite a phenomenon." She received 40 inquiries for catering and was able to accommodate six. "People are clearly enamored of this date," Bell said. "The interest has been huge."

Jason Diavatis, director of Bay Area Entertainment, turned away 20 requests for his services at 7/7/07 weddings.

"It's an absolutely insane weekend up here," said Diavatis, who is engaged and also thought of marrying on the date. "My fiancee really wanted to get married on 777. But I had to tell her that it was going to be a hot day for us in the industry."

In Las Vegas, chapels are planning for their busiest day ever. The Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino is charging $1,007.77 to wed a couple. Planet Hollywood is offering couples a chance to pay $777 to marry in a high-roller suite overlooking the Eiffel Tower replica on the Strip. The Flamingo is hosting 77 weddings at seven outdoor locations.

Other offers are geared toward numbers-obsessed gamblers. Triple 7 is the holy grail of slot machine jackpots, and a roll of the dice adding up to seven is a pivotal number in craps. The California Lottery is offering a free ticket to anyone who buys seven others by the end of Saturday.