Wednesday may not seem like a popular day of the week to get married, yet today tens of thousands of lovers will tie the knot, hoping the "lucky" day will guarantee a life on Cloud 9.

The number nine is considered auspicious in Chinese society, and today's date of Sept 9, 2009, or 09.09.09, is seen as particularly fortuitous.

"Today has three nines symbolizing extremely good luck," said Li Shaozhong, a 28-year-old engineer, who along with his fiance will be among the thousands of couples hoping to boost their chances at a happy marriage.

The couple met in Hefei, capital of Anhui Province, four years ago. Li said they want to be in love for the rest of their lives.

More than 10,000 couples are expected to register their marriages at local civil affairs departments in Beijing, and about 6,000 couples will tie the knot in Shanghai.

Meanwhile, 6,000 couples are registered to receive their certificates in Guangzhou, capital of Guandong Province, along with 4,000 in Tianjin and 2,000 in Nanjing.

"We have deployed more staff to ensure smooth operation at registration sites," said Zhou Jixiang, head of the marriage registration division of the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau.

Local civil affairs administration officials said they will not set any quotas on the number of people applying to get married today, and any couple in Shanghai can get their wedding certificates by midnight as long as they make it to the registration sites by 4 pm.

For others, however, there are more significant dates than today's triple nines.

"Sept 9 is a lucky day but my girlfriend's birthday is Sept 1. So we chose that day," said Xu Ke, a 27-year-old employee of a financial agency in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. "And with so many people rushing to register, it may be a little bit crowded."

Gottfried Bogensperger, general manager with Hyatt on the Bund in Shanghai, said he did not expect a boom in the wedding banquet business at his hotel today, as most Chinese couples prefer to host the wedding ceremony during weekends or holidays.

However, "we have received quite a number of wedding inquiries for next January," he said, adding that he anticipated that the Chinese New Year and Oct 10 next year (10.10.10) will be very popular.

Zhou said it would be difficult to predict whether today's final figure will break the city's record on Aug 8 last year, the day when the Beijing Olympics began.

Abbreviated as 08.08.08, that day was also considered auspicious, with about 3,300 couples marrying in Beijing that day, along with 7,100 in Shanghai, 1,200 in Guangzhou, 6,000 in Tianjin and 3,000 in Nanjing.

(China Daily September 9, 2009)