情侶爭相預約三“十二”結婚吉日

It’s taken an exact year of planning for the staff at Chapel of the Flowers to prepare for the extraordinary onslaught of Friday’s 11/11/11 wedding ceremonies. The first service is set for 8 am, and they will run nonstop for 15 hours in three chapels until 11:11 pm.

Couples at this local marriage Mecca are arriving from as far away as Great Britain, Canada, Hungary, French Polynesia and Singapore.

Several made their reservation 12 months ago, and couples have already made reservations for next year’s 12/12/12 binary date, the last of the century. (You could count 10/11/12 or 11/12/13, but 11/11/11 is tough to beat.)

“It is one crazy day for us,” Aimee Stephens, marketing director, told me. “Perhaps the craziest ever. Although we learned on 7/7/07 it was just too difficult to handle the record 113 we booked then. This year we restricted it to 80 so we could make it more personal and intimate, and now 96 hours before the Big Day, we only have one slot left.

“We’re juggling three weddings at exactly 11:11 am and another three at 11:11 pm. We have five ministers who have been officiating at our chapel for several years and provide our couples with the special Chapel of the Flowers experience. We have a specialty package that was created just for this date -- the 11-11-11 Ceremony Special includes a bouquet that’s a mix of 11 roses and 11 calla lilies. We have a special 11-11-11 logo created to go on the couple’s 11”x14” photo print, 11 additional prints come with the package, and their wedding will be online for Internet viewing for 11 days.

“Even though we will have 80 weddings, our couples will have the same experience that they would have on any other day they were marrying with us. It’s all the months of in-depth preparation in every department that allows for that, and we’re all super excited. Our beautiful outdoor gazebo and glass garden, cobblestone-accented grounds and lush landscaping make it the perfect romantic spot for a memorable marriage. Family and friends unable to get to Vegas for any couple’s ceremony will be able to watch it via an Internet feed.”

Las Vegas is world headquarters for marriage, and more than 4 percent of America’s expected 75,000 weddings will be held here Friday. Wedding photographers have been recruited from as far away as Phoenix and Northern California to deal with the demand. Hair salons are working around the clock with additional staff to meet hair and makeup requests.花兒教堂的職員花了整整一年時間來爲週五(11年11月11日)的婚禮大風暴做籌劃和準備。第一場婚禮定於早上8點舉行，之後三個教堂將連續15小時不間斷地舉行婚禮，一直到晚上的11點11分。

到這一結婚聖地舉行婚禮的有從英國、加拿大、匈牙利遠道而來的情侶，也有來自法屬波利尼西亞和新加坡的情侶。

有幾對情侶在12個月之前就已經預定好了，還有些情侶已經預定了明年/12年12月12日的雙數結婚吉日——本世紀最後一個三“十二”。(你也可以選10年11月12日，或11年12月13日，但是11年11月11日真的難以超越。)

營銷主管艾梅•史蒂芬斯告訴我說：“這對我們來說是瘋狂的一天。也許是我們經歷過的最瘋狂的一天。我們在07年7月7日就瞭解到要應對當時破紀錄的113個婚禮預定就已經很困難，但今年我們將預定數嚴格控制在80個，這樣我們就可以將婚禮辦得更個性化，氣氛更融洽。現在距離這個重要的日子還剩下96個小時，我們只餘下一個空位沒被預定。”

“我們在上午11點11分整將同時舉辦三場婚禮，並在晚上的11點11分再舉辦三場婚禮。我們有五位已經在我們教堂主持了好幾年儀式的神父，他們將讓新人們體驗花兒教堂的特別婚禮。我們有一個專門爲這個特別的日子(11年11月11日)製作的特色禮包，包括11朵玫瑰和11朵馬蹄蓮組合而成的花束。我們還設計了一個特別的11-11-11圖標，印在新人的11*14照片上，還有禮包中的11張圖片上。新人的婚禮視頻將會被放到網上，人們可以觀看該視頻長達11天。”

“儘管我們將舉行80場婚禮，但我們的新人們將擁有和其他任何一個日子在我們教堂結婚一樣的體驗。這是因爲我們各個部門的人在過去的12個月裏已經爲這一天做了全面深入的準備，而且我們全都非常興奮。我們美麗的室外露臺和玻璃花園，鵝卵石鋪就的地面和滿目蔥翠的景色，這些都使我們教堂成爲舉行難忘婚禮的浪漫絕佳地。不能到拉斯維加斯來參加新人婚禮的親友們將可以下載網絡種子文件來觀看。”

拉斯維加斯是世界結婚之都，週五美國將有超過4%的婚禮(7.5萬場)在這裏舉行。爲了應對龐大的婚禮需求，已從遠至菲尼克斯和北加州的美國各地招募婚禮攝影師。美髮沙龍晝夜不停地工作，並多招人手來應對美髮和美容需求。