Nicole Lin and Joe Hill made late decision to choose special day for their ceremony

Couples across New York are taking advantage of Wednesday's once-in-a-lifetime date - 09/09/09 - to tie the knot.

When Justin Allsopp, a 29-year-old child advocate, proposed to Barbara Fitzgerald, she already had the date in mind.

"Nine is my lucky number," Fitzgerald, 28, an attorney, explained.

The two also discovered that the Irish say the luckiest day to get married is Wednesday.

"I did some research and saw that there were two or three days that every culture agrees on as lucky days," said Fitzgerald, who will wed¹ in Sandy Hook, N.J., near her and Allsopp's hometown.

"Nine, nine, nine is just lucky all around!"

The quirk² of the calendar, which won't roll around again until September 2109, is considered especially auspicious³ for Chinese brides because the Mandarin⁴ word for "nine" sounds like the word for "long-lasting."

As one bride-to-be, Silin Trenh, 28, explained, "We picked [the date] because the Chinese meaning of the number nine is longevity⁵."

Trenh, an office manager, and her fiancé, Thanh Von, a 31-year-old lab tech, who both split their time between Manhattan and Boston and are both Chinese-American, are planning a small ceremony at City Hall with their close friends and family, followed by a celebration at City Hall Restaurant.

The luck of nine isn't just in the sound of the word.

Nicole Lin and Joe Hill, 40, who both work with antiquities⁶, explained that nine, because it is the highest single digit⁷ number, is associated with the Emperor of China and so will add an extra touch of class to their wedding day.

"We struck upon the date of 09-09-09 a little late in the game," said Hill, of Brooklyn, admitting the couple only picked the day about five months ago.

Thankfully, the last-minute wedding will work out.

The two chose to incorporate Lin's heritage - with an updated twist.

Though traditionally, the bride serves the groom's parents, Hill and Lin, who lives in Queens, agreed to serve each other's parents as a sign of unity⁸. "We're serving tea to our elders," Hill said. Just to add an extra twist to the festivities at their Riverside Church wedding, the bride, who is in her 30s, will walk down the aisle⁹ in an antique Edwardian wedding gown sewn in 1909.

全纽约的情侣们都不想错过周三这个千载难逢的好日子，纷纷选择在09年9月9日这一天结婚。

当29岁的儿童维权律师贾斯汀•奥尔索普向芭芭拉•菲茨杰拉德求婚时，他的女友就已经想好了这个日子。

同为律师的28岁的菲茨杰拉德说：“9是我的幸运数字。”

这对情侣还发现，按照爱尔兰人的说法，在星期三这一天结婚最为吉利。

菲茨杰拉德说：“我做了一些调查，发现有两三天是各种文化都公认的幸运日。”她和奥尔索普将在离两人家乡比较近的新泽西州桑迪•胡克城结婚。

“9-9-9，简直是幸运满满！”

这一天对于中国的新娘们来说尤为吉利，因为中文里9的发音和“久”相同。下一次这样的巧合要等到2109年9月才会出现，

28岁的准新娘郑西琳（音译）说：“我们选择（这一天）是因为9这个数字在中文里意味着‘长久’。”

郑西琳和她的未婚夫打算邀请一些亲朋好友，在市政厅举行一个小型婚礼，之后在市政厅酒店庆祝新婚。郑西琳是一名办公室经理，她的未婚夫、31岁的冯震（音译）是一名实验室技术人员，两人常奔忙于曼哈顿和波士顿之间，而且他们都是美籍华人。

“9”之所以幸运不仅因为它的发音。

都从事古文物研究的林尼可和40岁的乔•希尔说，因为9是个位数里最大的数字，和中国皇帝（的九五之尊）有关，因此也会给他们的大婚日增添几分高贵的意味。

来自布鲁克林的希尔说：“我们选定这一天的时候已经有点晚了。”他们大约在五个月前才选定要在09年9月9日这一天结婚。

幸运的是，最后一刻决定的婚礼将顺利举行。

两人还决定在婚礼中融入新娘家的传统，并结合一点现代的新花样。

依据传统，新娘应该向新郎的双亲敬茶，但希尔和林决定互敬对方的双亲，表示团结和睦。希尔说：“我们将分别向我们的双亲敬茶。”为了给他们的婚礼增加一点新花样，30多岁的林尼可将身穿一件1909年缝制的、爱德华七世时期的结婚礼服走向礼坛。林和希尔居住在皇后区，两人的婚礼将在“河边教堂”举行。

Vocabulary:

tie the knot: to get married 结婚（Michael and Hannah are going to tie the knot. 迈克尔和汉娜要喜结良缘了。）

quirk: an unpredictable or unaccountable event 偶然的事件

twist:手段; 办法; 技巧,  新花样