Supposedly lucky date lured more couples than usual up civil office aisle, writes JUDITH CROSBIE
Michelle Hughes wasn’t just fashionably late for her wedding yesterday. She was exactly 12 minutes late. At 12.12pm on the 12th day of the 12th month of 2012 she walked down the aisle in Dublin’s civil registration offices a little out of breath.
She may not have intended to delay the ceremony, but her timing was perfect. She did, however, set out to pick the date and had booked it more than a year ago.
The warning read out by senior registrar Caroline Hamill that the marriage should not be entered into “lightly, inadvisably or thoughtlessly” definitely didn’t apply here since things were planned well in advance.
“It can’t be done again for a long time, so it’s special,” said Ms Hughes (35) of the symmetrical date that won’t happen again until January 1st, 2101. “My daughter Jessica will also be 12 on Christmas Day,” she added.
More marriages
The supposedly lucky day is the reason for the unusually high number of civil marriages that took place yesterday, with 72 processed by the Office of the General Registrar. Last Wednesday just 19 took place. Couples from the US to Hong Kong and Indonesia also chose yesterday to get married.
Hughes said she didn’t pick the date because of superstition but was willing to take any luck that came with it. “I’ll definitely be playing Euromillions on Saturday,” she said.
Her marriage to Keith Parker (37) from Finglas has been a long time coming. They have been together for 19 years and as well as Jessica, they have Lucy (5) and Grace (1).
“After 19 years I just told her to pick a date and she picked today,” said Parker. “I told her it meant she wouldn’t get an anniversary present until the next symmetrical date but she told me where to go with that one,” he said.
Friends and family said they didn’t mind coming out in their finery on a cold Wednesday morning and gave the couple a loud send off in their Shelby Mustang.
Special date
The small gathering for Niamh Connolly and Dave Farrelly’s marriage, which took place at 11.30am, were equally buoyant.
The couple’s ceremony finished just before 12pm and they are 12 years together. Connolly’s brother Barry came up with the idea of marrying on the special date while they were all out one evening. While not expecting any luck to come out of it, Kate Connolly said it could prove to be a well-chosen date for her daughter.
“Dave will never have an excuse to forgot the anniversary,” she predicted.