From New York to China, the “lucky” date - 11/11/11 - has prompted thousands of couples to tie the knot.
On the 11th day of the 11th month of 2011, some 1,000 ethnic Chinese couples exchanged vows across Malaysia on a date viewed as auspicious and romantic.
“The numbers rhyme with one husband, one wife and one soul in Chinese and signifies a marriage that would last a lifetime,” said nurse Pua Kim Giok (25) who tied the knot with engineer Lee Chin Siong (27). They were among 460 couples who got married at the popular Thean Hou Temple in Kuala Lumpur.
In China, a special 1111 train started at 11:11 am on the No 11 line in Shanghai.
In the US, the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, is planning drawings every 11 minutes for up to 1,111 US dollars.
Sheila Barnett and Melissa Patrick were preparing to walk down the aisle and stand in front of a giant, crescent-shaped window at the Crowne Plaza in Manhattan, look each other in the eyes and say, “I do.”
The same-sex couple from Florida was one of 11 couples that won a Facebook promotion called Marry Me 11-11-11 Wedding Contest.
The hotel awarded dream weddings to the couples on the once-in-a-century day.
Yet as they packed their nearly identical dresses for the ceremony (Ms Patrick will wear white, Ms Barnett, purple), they tried not to think about this one fact: when they get home after their whirlwind, fairy-tale weekend, their marriage won’t be legal in Florida.
In Las Vegas, Clark County Clerk Diana Alba got ready for an onslaught of weddings. She was expecting the number of couples to surpass the crowd on 08/08/08 and equal the throng on 10/10/10. It may not, however, reach the turnout seen on July 7th, 2007 - a date that consists of three lucky sevens.
“That was like the granddaddy of all dates,” she said.
In Des Moines, Iowa, Dr Ross Valone, an obstetrician-gynaecologist, will refund any fees he collects from delivering babies today. In Bellevue, Washington, Jason Brown will open his new grocery store at 11:11 am.
Vikki MacKinnon, a numerologist in Calgary, Ontario, said she expected the day to be a “cosmic wake-up call.”
“Eleven is a number of illumination and enlightenment, a number of insight, blinding flashes of the obvious, and a number of transformation,” she said.
The Chinese have always had a fascination with number sequences.
And in a country where ages of first marriages are creeping upward, the 11/11/11 date represents six “bare sticks,” a term for bachelors in Chinese.
Not everyone is smiling, however.
Egypt’s antiquities authority closed the largest of the Great Pyramid of Giza following rumours that groups would try to hold spiritual ceremonies on the site.
AP