It has been billed as “the most popular wedding date ever”. From Beirut to Las Vegas, churches, chapels and register offices – and priests, rabbis and Elvis impersonators – have been overwhelmed with bookings from couples desperate to take advantage of tomorrow’s auspicious date: 7/7/7.

In Las Vegas, a well-timed triple-seven can make you rich on the blackjack table. But the luck of the sevens goes deeper than that, wedding experts say.

The Bible says that God took seven days to create the world; in Judaism, the bride circles her groom seven times; and in Islam, pilgrims go seven times around the Kaaba shrine in Mecca. And there are the seven Wonders of the World, the seven notes in a scale and the seven spots on the common ladybird.

Unsurprisingly, the biggest celebrity wedding of the year is scheduled to take place on tomorrow’s historically auspicious date: Eva Longoria, a star of theDesperate HousewivesTV show, is tying the knot with Tony Parker, the Belgian-born basketball player.

Aisle of dreams

As couples in the UK and US rush to wed on lucky 7.7.07, Penny Wark looks at the enduring appeal of ‘I do’

Parker, 25, is seven years younger than Longoria. He grew up in Rouen, northwest of Paris. The couple will be married at the church of Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois in Paris and the reception will take place at Vauxle-Vicomte, the 17th-century château that inspired the palace of King Louis XIV’s at Versailles.

Guests are expected to include Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jamie Foxx, Lionel Richie and Ms Longoria’s Desperate Housewives co-stars.

Parker has shown limited enthusiasm for the ceremony, in spite of a reported $2 million (£1 million) windfall from OK! magazine for the exclusive right to the photographs. “I don’t care where I’m going to get married,” he told reporters. “It’s a girls’ day.” Although captain of France’s national basketball team, Parker plays for the San Antonio Spurs, of which Longoria, a Texan, has been a long-time fan.

In Las Vegas, the wedding capital of the world, the knottying industry is preparing for a 7/7/7 onslaught. “This is the busiest I’ve been in my 49 years in this business,” said Charlotte Richards, the owner of the famous Little White Chapel. “This is our magical, maniacal, historical moment of love.”

A record 3,000 couples have applied for marriage licences in Clark County, cramming tomorrow’s schedules at the 40 or so chapels across the city that offer cut-price, legally binding ceremonies.

Inevitably, the casinos are also cashing in. The Mandalay Bay Hotel is offering a “777 Beach Extravaganza” package, which includes a wedding ceremony on Mandalay Bay Beach, champagne toast, a concert featuring KC and the Sunshine Band, a catered reception with complimentary bar, a photo of the bride and groom and a gift bag. The cost? $1,777.

One of tomorrow’s Las Vegas brides will be Virginia Valdez, 57, who is set to wed Stanley, her boyfriend of the past ten years. The California couple decided on the date because they thought that it would be a memorable anniversary and because they happened to be leaving Las Vegas that day anyway.

“We’ve joked about getting married on this day, but it’s definitely going to be special,” Ms Valdez said. “It’s kind of neat, especially with all the hype.”

In Beirut Karma Ekmekji said that it was Razmig Boladian, her fiancé, who pushed for the auspicious date. “Raz wanted the date more strongly than me. He feels like it’s a divine date. For me, it’s cute,” she said, adding that the flowers and other wedding services will be “ten times more expensive” because of the date.

In a city that has had more than its fair share of bad luck recently, Mr Boladian, 23, hopes that the date will mark a change in fortunes. “I was landing in Beirut a couple of months ago,” he said, “and I looked down at the city and said, ‘I don’t want to get married anywhere else’.”

New Year’s Eve 999

Thousands crowded St Paul’s, Rome, intent on hearing the final Mass before the end of the world. They dispersed at midnight after a blessing from the Pope

1914

Jehovah’s Witnesses used calculations stemming from references in the Book of Daniel to predict that the world would end in this year

666

When Ronald Reagan bought a house in Los Angeles in 1989 he forced officials to change the address from 666 to 668 St Cloud Road

January 2005

Marriage registrations soared in China during the final days of the lunar Year of the Monkey, in order to avoid the inauspicious Year of the Rooster, a “widows’ year” that began on February 9

June 6, 2006

Expectant mothers across America organised for their babies to be induced in order to prevent them from being born under the “Devil’s number”, 666

Source: Times archives; www.billenium.com

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