Q-C couples marrying to clinch luck of triple 8s

Font Size:

By Kay Luna | Friday, August 08, 2008 |

Shannon Keegan, left, and David Collier, both of Blue Grass, Iowa, plan to get married on August 8th at Collier's parents' home in Blue Grass. (Andrew Link/QUAD-CITY TIMES) Buy this Photo

VIDEO: It's a Date
A Blue Grass couple is getting married on 8-8-08.…
Watch Video

UPDATED: David Collier says he’s a regular guy. He forgets things.

But the first-time groom never wants to forget his wedding anniversary with bride-to-be Shannon Keegan.

That’s why the couple is getting married today, on Aug. 8, 2008 — or 8-8-08.

“It seemed like a date I knew I couldn’t forget,” the 38-year-old Collier said.

Officials in Rock Island and Scott counties say the date does not compare with the popularity of July 7, 2007, or 7-7-07, which fell on a Saturday, but many couples around the Quad-Cities are heading down the aisle in numeric synchronicity today.

Maybe they’re hoping for a little extra luck.

Eight is significant in China, where it has long been considered a lucky number and people pay extra to include it in telephone numbers and on license plates.

No wonder the opening ceremonies for the Summer Olympic Games begin today at 8:08:08 p.m. Beijing time.

The Chinese lunar calendar is based on numbers, and in Canton province, the word eight, or “faat,” means fortune.

So, if a person is born on the eighth day of August, the Chinese say he or she will prosper doubly.

“To the Chinese, numbers have meaning,” said Susan Leuthauser of the Quad-City Chinese Association. “Eight is a good number. It’s kind of like people not wanting to stay on the 13th floor. It’s a tradition.”

By comparison, she said, the number four is very bad in Chinese culture because the Chinese pronunciation of the word sounds similar to the word for death.

But the pronunciation of eight in China sounds like the phrase for good fortune, said Han-Chia Li, an instructor of Chinese language at the University of Mississippi.

That means Marcia Gans of Pleasant Valley could experience a very lucky birthday today. Her husband, Joe, said she will celebrate with all those eights in the date — and a couple of 54s, too.

She was born in 1954, and this is her 54th birthday, he said.

Several babies are bound to be born today in the Quad-Cities, but some parents might not realize the significance of the date until later, said Maribeth Bopes, nurse manager at Trinity BirthPlace at Terrace Park in Bettendorf and the 7th Street Campus in Moline.

“I don’t think it dawns on people until they have to write the date,” she said.

For many new parents, one particular date two years ago was disturbing: 6/6/06. Others were thrilled by it, she added. (A disputed biblical passage in the Book of Revelation declares 666 to be the “number of the beast,” a notion that was spread by “The Omen” films.)

As for today’s date, numerologist Glynis McCants advises people to avoid confrontations. (If you trace the number 8, you go around and around.) She encourages people to light a white candle and reflect on financial prosperity because eight in numerology promotes financial security.

Eight also is the atomic number for oxygen. There are eight days of Hanukkah. The symbol for infinity takes on the shape of eight, and there are eight planets (at least since Pluto was demoted).

Even so, the triple-eight wedding date doesn’t appear to be as popular in the United States as 7-7-07, which was one of the busiest for nuptials last year, said Sally Kilbridge, deputy editor of Brides magazine.

Two couples will be getting married today during the first-ever Tug-the-Knot dual wedding ceremony at the Tug Fest in LeClaire, Iowa, and Port Byron, Ill. The event is sponsored by KUUL-FM 101.3.

Rachel Hedquist and David “Worm” Allbee, both of Park View, Iowa, will marry on the LeClaire side of the river. The other couple, Amber Shipman, who grew up in Port Byron, and Eric Taflinger, of Galesburg, Ill., will marry in Port Byron.

Meanwhile, serious decorating is under way for today’s 7 p.m. wedding of Collier and Keegan at their Blue Grass, Iowa, home.

When is the reception?

“It’s at 8,” he said.

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com.