It’s taken an exact year of planning for the staff at Chapel of the Flowers to prepare for the extraordinary onslaught of Friday’s 11/11/11 wedding ceremonies. The first service is set for 8 am, and they will run nonstop for 15 hours in three chapels until 11:11 pm. Couples at this local marriage Mecca are arriving from as far away as Great Britain, Canada, Hungary, French Polynesia and Singapore. Several made their reservation 12 months ago, and couples have already made reservations for next year’s 12/12/12 binary date, the last of the century. (You could count 10/11/12 or 11/12/13, but 11/11/11 is tough to beat.) “It is one crazy day for us,” Aimee Stephens, marketing director, told me. “Perhaps the craziest ever. Although we learned on 7/7/07 it was just too difficult to handle the record 113 we booked then. This year we restricted it to 80 so we could make it more personal and intimate, and now 96 hours before the Big Day, we only have one slot left. “We’re juggling three weddings at exactly 11:11 am and another three at 11:11 pm. We have five ministers who have been officiating at our chapel for several years and provide our couples with the special Chapel of the Flowers experience. We have a specialty package that was created just for this date -- the 11-11-11 Ceremony Special includes a bouquet that’s a mix of 11 roses and 11 calla lilies. We have a special 11-11-11 logo created to go on the couple’s 11”x14” photo print, 11 additional prints come with the package, and their wedding will be online for Internet viewing for 11 days. |