Wedding season is at its peak, and this Saturday — July 7, 2007, or 7-7-07 — has become one of the most sought-after dates for its lucky significance.
According to TheKnot.com, a popular wedding resource and database, about 38,000 couples are getting married July 7, which is about three times the number for a typical Saturday in July.
Local retailers, from catering services to reception halls to wedding planners, florists and cake makers, are all responding to high numbers of requests for this particular date.
“It’s been really busy,” said Jenny Nemiroff, president of A Touch of Sass, an Alexandria-based wedding planner business. According to Nemiroff, the company starting booking its planners more than a year in advance before the date, making an exception to its policy of booking only a year ahead. The planners in turn had to reserve hotels and vendor services earlier, especially since the date is so close to Independence Day.
“Most of our vendors are taking on more of a workload than they typically do,” she said, including cake makers in particular.
Some vendors have had to turn down multiple requests. These include John Duffy, a florist for Yellow Door Floral Designs in McLean, who said he received requests about two months earlier than usual for the date, and Errol Taylor of Charm City Catering, a Baltimore-based business that serves the D.C. metro area, who had five requests but could only book two.
Many reception halls and venues were also flooded with inquiries that they couldn’t accommodate. The Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in downtown Washington received hundreds of requests, according to Director of Catering Lisa Floyd. Doug Camp, director of sales and marketing at the Hay Adams Hotel across from the WhiteHouse, said his hotel also couldn’t accept all the requests. It will host two weddings Saturday, which is “business as usual” for the summer months. For some places, even one wedding planned is exceptional for a holiday weekend. At the new Renaissance M Street Hotel, Director of Event Planning Michael Henness said he typically would “never have weddings on the Fourth of July and the Saturday after,” but this year he’s had two requests.
