Anyone who plays slot machines knows the burning desire to see the reels come up 777, and thereby win a pot of coins. And the prospect of a lucky marriage is prompting couples coast to coast to travel to Las Vegas to get hitched on July 7—the date in ciphers being 7-7-07.

Recognizing a good bet when they see one, staff members of that East Coast stalwart magazine The Atlantic have included the 777 mania in its calendar listings in the July/August edition. The item on page 23 reads as follows:

July 7
Gambling on Love
One-armed bandits may get a workout in Vegas this weekend: Wedding halls are expecting a flood of couples betting that the triple-seven date (7/7/07) will bring a little luck to their nuptials.

Continue reading "777 Las Vegas mania spreads to wedding chapels, finds an echo" »

Posted June 21, 2007 8:58 AM by Anthony Greno | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

By Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway

Everyone is talking about 7-7-07. Let's not forget 6-21-07.

It is Summer Solstice, traditionally a heavenly time to pledge your love.

And its a lucky day indeed. It is the longest day of the year, a time when the sun is at the height of it’s power, and good vibrations abound.

The folks at Chiff.com put it this way:

"Awed by the great power of the sun, world civilizations for many centuries have celebrated the Summer Solstice - otherwise known as Midsummer. The Celts and Slavs celebrated with dancing and bonfires to help increase the sun's energy, the Chinese marked the day by honoring Li, the Chinese Goddess of Light, and the Druids celebrated it as the wedding of Heaven and Earth, resulting in the enduring modern custom of a "lucky" wedding in June.”

Continue reading "A Midsummer Night's Marriage - As Lucky as 7-7-07?" »

Posted June 20, 2007 6:59 PM by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

By Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway

Some people are saying that 7-07-07 will be the most popular wedding date of the century.

Wedding venues across the nation say the 7-07-07 wedding date has booked up fast as couples set their sights on pledging their love on a "lucky day."

You can just imagine what a popular day that will be in Las Vegas, especially since 7-7-7 is a winning jackpot!

Ever wonder why else the number 7 is so hot? We have 7 wonders of the world, 7 seas and 7 continents. Superstitions abound about the numbe. From the religious and spiritual perspectives, here are some of the reasons it is considered sacred.

In the Bible. The number 7 is a perfect and important number.

From the Jewish perspective: The number 7 is prominent in the Torah and the Zohar. God rested on the seventh day of creating earth, and hence, sanctified and deemed Sabbath on day seven. There are seven blessings over the wine are recited under the huppa during the marriage ceremony.

From the Catholic perspective: There are Seven sacraments, we have Seven Deadly Sins (Lust, Gluttony, Avarice, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, and Pride) and Seven Virtues (Chastity, Moderation, Liberality, Charity, Meekness, Zeal, and Humility).

From the Christian perspective: In the New Testament, Jesus tells Peter he must forgive "seventy times seven."

From the Native American and Wiccan traditions: Their are 7 directions: east, west, north, south, Above, Below and Within. There are 7 sacred ceremonies.

From the Hindu tradition. There are 7 energy centers in the body called chakras. They represent both physical and energetic centers and they are: root, solar plexus, heart, throat, third eye, crown. In the Hindu wedding ceremony, the most important part is Saptapadi, the 7 steps around the sacred flame as 7 blessings are chanted.

From the Japanese Shinto religion: There are "Seven Lucky Gods" who preside over fortune.

In mythology: Innana, the Babylonian Goddess Queen of Heaven, had to descend 7 levels to the underworld stripping her jewels, clothes, crown, and ego (7 items in all) along the way in order to rescue her beloved Tamuz from the depths of hell.

Lucky 7

From sports to the stars: 7 comes up sacred again. In astronomy and astrology there are 7 planets that can be seen with the naked eye.In baseball, there was only one number 7 - Mickey Mantle.

Gambler's luck. In the game of craps, 7 wins in any combination. Lady Luck is a character who wears dice for earrings and they always have the number 7.

As you can see, ancient and popular thinking would seem to make 7-07-07 a helluva wedding date, a triple chance at good luck! If this is your wedding day, may it be a lucky roll of the dice!

Continue reading "Why is 7-07-07 Such a Hot Date for a Wedding?" »

Posted June 13, 2007 7:50 PM by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Now less than two weeks into her first marriage (it’s Mohr’s second), the NBC Las Vegas star, Nikki Cox, should be accustomed to playing house with her fiancé (they were engaged in Feb. ’06).

The couple met in 2004 when Mohr guest-starred on Las Vegas. You sure don’t have to look far to see how “Las Vegas” plays a role in so many marriages.

He’s eight years her senior, a minor age gap by Hollywood standards.

Mohr, well-known for his role in Jerry Maguire, and Cox rang in 2007 as husband and wife after exchanging vows in Los Angeles at the Hotel Bel-Air on Friday, Dec. 29.

Here’s wishing the happy couple a prosperous New Year!

Posted January 10, 2007 1:23 PM by Pete Codella | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Wedding Goddess Wisdom

Here's some good wedding news!

I will now be blogging away at Wedlok.com ... and also at my new "Blog-a-Zine" for brides, Wedding Goddess Wisdom, which will be bringing insights, information and guidance to help brides stress-less while planning a wedding, as well as offering creative ideas for personalizing your interfaith or non-denominational ceremonies.

It picks up where my book Wedding Goddess left off and expands on my Wedlok.com columns.

Brides (and anyone involved in a wedding or about to attend one) can send their pressing wedding questions to my column, Ask The Wedding Goddess at RevLaurieSue@WeddingGoddess.com.

With Wedding Goddess Wisdom my aim is to bring a little more peace, calm and support to the wedding journey.

I hope all my Wedlok.com readers will also join me at www.WeddingGoddessWisdom.com so you can get the best of all worlds - insights on weddings from New York to Las Vegas.

Meantime, I have many Las Vegas specific stories to offer, so please stay tuned to this blog as well.

And PLEASE send your wedding question to me at RevLaurieSue@WeddingGoddess.com.

I am happy to also answer all your Las Vegas related wedding questions in my postings here at Wedlok.com.

Blessings, Rev. Laurie Sue

Posted September 24, 2006 3:42 PM by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Wedding Goddess Wisdom

Okay, things get wierd in this town and this state ... but one thing you would not expect to see in Las Vegas or anywhere in Nevada is an all-too-young bride in prairie wear getting hitched to her polygamist husband by a "prophet" wanted by the FBI.

A disturbing story from KLAS-TV reported that Warren Jeffs, leader of the Fundamentalist LDS, allegedly presided over marriage ceremonies here between older men and underage girls in the state of Nevada. (Not clear if any happened in Las Vegas, but one would imagine they may possibly blend in on the Las Vegas Strip.)

One young bride, who would have none of that "it's your duty to submit to the marriage and the arrangement came from God" pap from Jeffs, turned him in and sparked the investigation.

It's suspected that Nevada's easy marriage laws might have made for easy legal hook ups. Creepy to think Nevada's support of stress-free weddings and easy marriages would be abused in that way, if it did indeed happen.

Polygamists do not make themselves bigamists by trying to legally marry gaggles of women. Here's how the poligs work their multiple marriage system: Only one wife -- the first wife -- is a legal marriage. The other "wives" are wed in spiritual ceremonies sanctioned by the religious body that governs the polygamist community.

I know this because, interestingly, in my life before becoming a minister, I was a reporter for a magazine that sent on assignment to cover a huge controversy/scandal in the well-know polygamist community that straddles the Arizona and Colorado borders - Hilldale, Utah and Colorado City, Utah.

Continue reading "Polygamists Tie the Knot in Nevada?" »

Posted September 8, 2006 5:52 AM by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Wedding Goddess Wisdom

I have been having such a hoot reading all the articles from around the world about yesterday's official end to the graveyard shift at the Clark County Marriage Bureau.

You would think that Las Vegas was canceling weddings, all together, forever. The decision to reduce hours and save money has really only reduced the hours of the clerk's office by about 17 hours a week, when you think about it.

It is sad, yes. The end of an era, yes. But not the end of the world.

I think it is time for people to relinquish this idea that people who marry in Las Vegas do so by getting drunk and hitched in the middle of the night. We just hear about all the celebrities who opt for those middle of the night I Dos. It truly is not the "norm" or the most common approach to wedlock here.

Most people plan their weddings. They make phone calls and send e-mails and get prices and book in advance. True, you can walk in to a chapel and make a marriage happen easier than in most cities. But the majority of people do not operate that way. Even it they marry late at night, they have given it some thought.

Continue reading "The News Heard Round the World" »

Posted August 31, 2006 6:46 AM by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Wedding Goddess Wisdom

It's confirmed. Starting August 30th, if the urge to merge your life in holy matrimony hits in the middle of the night you will have to wait till the morning comes.

Las Vegas will officially shut down the graveyard shift at the Clark County Marriage License Bureau, hence ending an era of 24/7 weekend wedding licences.

Don't cry - unless it is with tears of joy that you can now be awake for your wedding!

Only 4 per cent of all licenses were purchased in the wee hours. And you can still get yours from 8:30 a.m. and Midnight 7 days a week.

Read more in the Las Vegas Sun:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2006/aug/23/082310227.html

Where and When You Can Get Your License, effective 8-30-06:

Continue reading "Marriage Bureau: New Hours for LV Love" »

Posted August 23, 2006 8:07 AM by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Wedding Goddess Wisdom

There is good news for the about-to-be hitched ...

A study conducted by the Ohio State University found that if you happen to be depressed prior to marriage, tying the knot will put the pep back in your step and significantly raise your spirits.

Researchers originally thought that one depressed mate could drag the whole marriage down. They discovered the opposite. Being married makes people feel better.

Researchers Adrianne Frech and Kristi Williams studied 3,000 people to find that down in the dumps singles seem to come alive when wedding bliss comes their way.

Williams said one answer is, "They may just be specially in need of the intimacy and social support marriage gives."

Posted August 14, 2006 2:09 PM by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Wedding Goddess Wisdom

Looks like the days of getting drunk and getting hitched in the wee hours of the Las Vegas morn could be a thing of the past ... and maybe it is time to ax that stereotypical image of Las Vegas Weddings, anyway.

Some folks apparently think it is time to ax the local Marriage Bureau budget.

If a proposal to end round the clock wedding license service on the weekends comes through, even Britney Spears and Nicky Hilton would be hard pressed to get their hands on a marriage license after midnight.

But don't worry, anyone would be able to get one up until 12 midnight any day of the week, according to KLAS-TV, Eyewitness News, Las Vegas.

Read more about it on their website, along with the official Clark County Clerk's Offiice document on the proposed changes, at:

http://www.klastv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5191809&nav=168Y

Continue reading "No More Twenty Four? Marriage Bureau Hours May Change" »

Posted August 6, 2006 8:35 AM by Rev. Laurie Sue Brockway | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email This

Okay all you June brides and Las Vegas tourists, June 2 will be a special day in the neon city. According to James Tegnelia, head of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Vegas residents and tourists alike will be able to see a “mushroom cloud” emanating from a 700-ton explosion scheduled for June 2 at the Nevada Test Site.

Perhaps you’re familiar with the atomic bomb testing southern Nevadans innocently witnessed in the 50s. Today it’s certainly difficult to fathom atomic bomb explosions as a spectator sport.

But that’s just what some of the 3 million June visitors and Las Vegas residents will witness on June 2.

“I don’t want to sound glib here,” remarked Tegnelia, “but it is the first time in Nevada that you’ll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons.”

Is anyone else alarmed by that statement?

Continue reading "700 ton bomb to rattle Las Vegas at its tourist heart" »

Posted March 31, 2006 11:11 AM by Pete Codella | Permalink | Comments (28) | Email This