It's rarely hard to find a blushing bride brandishing a bottle of shampanskoye in front of a Moscow beauty spot - but on Wednesday the city's photographers and limousine hire firms are braced for a bonanza.
As the auspicious date 09/09/09 arrives, the city's registry offices have recorded a spike in couples rushing to tie the knot.
Whether they believe that, like 07/07/07, the date will bring good luck - or whether, more prosaically, prospective grooms are hoping it will be harder to forget that all important anniversary in years to come - Moscow's lovers are jumping at the chance to get hitched.
Chief registrar Tatyana Ushakova told RIA Novosti: "Last week we already had 1,036 couples applying to marry on the 9th, even though it's a Wednesday. Usually on a Wednesday we only have 200-300 couples."
Keen to keep up with the city slickers, Moscow region's lovers are following the trend. Suburban registry offices are anticipating twice as many couples as usual exchanging vows.
It's not the first time this year that the calendar has set up a dash towards nuptial bliss - barely a month ago registrars saw a 50 per cent increase in couples getting wed on 07/08/09. On that day 1,200 marriages were conducted, compared with an average of 800 for a summer weekday.
The trend for marrying on "special" dates is a relatively new one. While superstition would stop all but the most ardent Goths from heading to the wedding palace on 06/06/06, there was little evidence of a trend in the early years of this decade.
But on 07/07/07 and 08/08/08 the confetti really started flying, with around 1,700 couples taking the plunge on each of those dates.
Foreigners need not apply
According to a recent survey by Superjob.ru, few of those blushing brides will be marrying foreigners, however.
It might come as a shock to those brought up on the clichés presented by the online dating boom, but a mere 7 per cent of Russian women claimed they were looking exclusively for a "foreign prince" and 51 per cent said they would prefer to marry a compatriot. Page 22
"It's better to marry your own than wait for a ‘foreign prince'," said one respondent. "Marriage with a foreigner can cause so many problems, especially if you have children."
Better the devil you know, said another: "I've seen these ‘foreigners'. Russians may be a bit rough, but at least they are our own."
That sounds like a shot in the arm for the 59 per cent of men with a dim view of their Katyusha's being swept off into the sunset by a foreigner.
"There's nothing better than a Slavic man," protested one outraged respondent, while another dismissed those marrying abroad as "traitors".
But heartsick expats shouldn't lose all hope. Beneath the headline figures, it seems that about 26 per cent of local lovelies will at least consider marrying a foreigner - if he can match up to her standards.
And that seems to be the big problem for many women. One opined that "men today have become very shrewd, arrogant and rude", while another added that "currently, men are afraid to be responsible and resolute".
Happily, romance is not entirely dead. The respondent who concluded "I want to marry a good man, his nationality doesn't matter" found an echo among the women who spoke to the Moscow News.
"The most important thing is love," said Yulia Kiselyova, 26 years old and single. "That's worth more than money or nationality."
"I'm not really fond of Russian men, but I don't really care where he comes from," said Masha Vasilyeva, 23. "I met one guy I'd probably marry if he asked me, and he's American." ■
Meaningful numbers
The 9th of the month is regarded as a good day for weddings, since according to numerology the number nine is connected with the heart, with harmony (usually divine, but hopefully domestic as well in these cases), and with law and the principle of love. In Chinese traditions 99 also symbolises eternity.
Others have ascribed greater significance to eight, which in Chinese folklore is symbolic of happiness and good fortune. The Beijing Olympic Games last summer began on 08/08/08 for precisely that reason.
Number seven is famously associated with good luck - "Lucky Seven" lotteries exist in many countries, including Australia, Canada and the USA.
However, 06/06/06 has less appealing connections - in the Bible 666 is given as the number of the beast, perhaps explaining why the spike in weddings is a more recent phenomenon. Some suggested that this year's 09/09/09 would be seen as the inverse of 666 and produce fewer nuptials, but the current evidence suggests otherwise.
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