Pamela Yager scheduled seven pre-nuptial special events leading up to her 7 o'clock wedding on Saturday, which just happens to be luckiest wedding date of all time: 7-7-07."We definitely chose it for lucky-number purposes," said Yager, an Academy of the Sacred Heart alum who now makes her living in Los Angeles as a stand-up comic known as the "Sassy Debutante."
"Both my brothers were born on the 7th. I was supposed to be born on the 7th, but Hurricane Betsy changed that. 717 is my address."
Yager is just one of thousands of brides everywhere hoping to hit the matrimonial jackpot today, a triple-lucky-number date that comes up only once per century.
The number seven has long been magical and mystical, and associated with good luck. So superstitious couples are cramming churches nationwide, marrying judges have full schedules and wedding chapels in Las Vegas are doing bang-up business.
No one is quite sure how many couples will walk down the aisle today but a good measuring stick is the popular Web site TheKnot.com, where some 38,000 couples are registered for that date, more than three times as many as any July Saturday in 2006.
Even the rich and famous are rolling the dice that day, highlighted by the nuptials of "Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria and San Antonio Spurs player Tony Parker, who will wed at the posh castle Chateau de Chantilly in France.
Over in Italy on the island of Capri, celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck is also getting hitched that day.
Yager, who moonlights in L.A. as a planner of "Brides Night Out" risque bachelorette parties, is marrying Dr. Richard Penfil of Newport Beach, Calif., and the wedding celebration is at -- what else? -- 7 p.m. at Emeril's Delmonico Restaurant.
After years of dating guys she said were "cuckoo," Yager said she found "the man of my dreams," so she decided to pull out everything lucky to ensure a happy marriage -- including the 7-7-07 date.
So why is seven considered a lucky number? Ask seven people and you'll get seven different answers.
Seven and its superstitions come at you from any and all directions: from religion, history, astronomy, astrology, nature, mythology, gambling and sports.
After creating the world, the Bible tells us, God rested on the seventh day. There are seven days of the week. The Catholic Church has Seven Sacraments, Seven Deadly Sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, pride) and Seven Virtues (chastity, moderation, liberality, diligence, patience, kindness and humility).
There are seven spots on a ladybug and Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Medieval literature talked about Seven Seas, and as it turns out, there are seven oceans. A bonus: Rome was built on seven hills.
There are seven colors of the rainbow and seven notes on the musical scale. In the Orthodox Jewish tradition, the bride circles the groom seven times when she arrives at the chuppah, a wedding canopy.
In craps, the number seven is usually considered lucky. "Lady Luck" is often depicted wearing dice earrings with the number "7" on them.
In the world of slots, 7-7-7 is the top slot machine jackpot, and three sevens also add up to 21, as in Blackjack.
In baseball, what inning do you stretch? That's right -- the seventh. Nobody ever heard of a sixth inning stretch.
There are Seven Dwarfs, seven visible planets and luminaries (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) and Seven Sages.
The Big Dipper is made up of seven stars.
In sports, the number seven has served some famous athletes well.
The most famous to wear "7" on their jerseys were the New York Yankees' Mickey Mantle, the Denver Broncos' John Elway and the New Orleans Jazz's Pistol Pete Maravich. The Houston Astros' Craig Biggio, who just collected his milestone 3,000th hit, wears number 7.
Others for whom seven was lucky were hockey's Phil Esposito and football's Bert Jones, Joe Theismann, Ron Jaworski, George Halas, Bob Waterfield, Jim Zorn and Dan Pastorini.
Soccer star and pretty boy David Beckham puts 7 on his back, as do current NFL quarterbacks J.P. Losman of Buffalo, who played at Tulane, Ben Roethlisberger of Pittsburgh, Matt Leinart of Arizona, the troubled Michael Vick of Atlanta and Jacksonville's Byron Leftwich.
Dr. Roch Hontas of Tulane quarterbacking fame wore No. 7. The most accomplished New Orleans Saint to ever put on No. 7? That's easy: kicker Morten Andersen.
Football's "Galloping Ghost," the legendary Red Grange, liked 7 so much he wore two of them -- 77 was his number.
There was a song named "Seven Sisters Blues," written by Texan J.T. "Funny Paper" Smith, all about seven voodoo/hoodoo sisters in New Orleans "that could fix a man up right."
Johnny Rivers sang "Seventh Son." And superstition has it that the seventh son will live a wonderful and prosperous life -- presuming he survives growing up with six older brothers.
Think about movies, where the most famous agent of the British Secret Intelligent Service, James Bond, was better known as "007."
It wasn't "The Magnificent Six" -- it was "The Magnificent Seven," with a fabulous theme song and one of the great casts in history, including Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Eli Wallach and James Coburn. Then there were "Seven Year Itch" with Marilyn Monroe and Brad Pitt's "Seven Years in Tibet."
And then there is the movie that should be required viewing for every couple getting married Saturday night: "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers."
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