UPDATE JAN. 3: The Clark County Marriage Bureau says it issued around 780 licenses between Jan. 31 and Feb. 2. Officiants have 10 calendar days to file marriage certificates, so it's not yet known exactly how many were issued on Feb. 2.
The county also says 39 civil ceremonies were conducted, which is about three times more than usual. It normally does 10-15 civil ceremonies on Sundays.
ORIGINAL STORY
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) -- A Las Vegas wedding chapel says it saw an influx of marriages on Sunday, as eager couples in love chose to tie the knot on Feb. 2, palindrome day.
A palindrome is a word, phrase, or sequence that reads the same forward as it does backwards. In its numerical form, Feb. 2 reads: 02-02-2020.
“[We're] finally doing this and it’s really special to us," said Megan Nelson. "We’re happy to finally to make this commitment to each other.”
Megan Nelson and Zackery Fretty both traveled from Michigan to Las Vegas to get hitched, choosing Feb. 2 well in advance.
“It was really just the twos... 2, 2, 2020,” Nelson said.
They planned the date last summer, but it wasn’t until much later they realized it was a palindrome.
“We just happened upon that and we were like, ‘That’s so cool!’" she said. "It’s something that doesn’t happen very often."
The last time there was a global palindrome date was 909 years ago, on 11/11/1111.
At Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel, the usual sleepy Super Bowl Sunday wound up being a very busy day.
“I think we have about 20-some weddings keeping us going from about 11 until about nine o’clock tonight," said Ron DeCar, owner of Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel. "And I’m sure we’ll get a few walk-ins too."
The chapel says it's not unusual to see an influx of weddings scheduled on dates that have patterns or sequences.
“Couples come to Las Vegas because they want to be married on a date that’s something easy to think of," said DeCar. "On 7-7-07 we did 150 weddings, and then 11-11-11 came and we did 230 in one day."
For Megan and Zackery, Sunday's palindrome made it extra meaningful to tie the knot and begin the next chapter of their lives.
“A historic event, Megan and Zack. A special day, I guess,” Nelson said.
