Russian marriage offices have seen a surge of applications to wed today, due to the supposedly lucky character of the date: 08.08.08, officials and local media said.
In Moscow, registry offices will stay open late as applications to marry on August 8 are up by more than two thirds compared to a normal Friday in summer, a spokeswoman for the city's registry offices Yevgenia Smirnova said.
Normally between 900 and 1,000 marriages take place on a regular Friday or Saturday in summer, she said, but applications had already reached 1,675 by the end of last week.
More than 16,400 Beijing couples have applied to have their marriages registered on the auspicious date of Aug 8, 2008, the municipal bureau of civil affairs said.
On the same day last year, just 3,390 couples registered their nuptials, it said.
The number eight is believed to bring happiness and fortune. The three eights in Aug 8, 2008, therefore, make that day especially popular.
"Eight is such an auspicious number, and with the opening of the Beijing Olympics, the whole nation will be celebrating with us," Li Jun, who will be among those officially getting married on Friday, told China Daily.
"And having 2008-08-08 stamped on my marriage certificate will make it extra special," he said.
Do you know what today? - everyone of my overseas wedding planners are rushed off their feet, we have a wedding just about everywhere, from Tobago to Tuscany!
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