Lucky date: couples tie the knot - Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney Morning Herald

Shudi Tang and Eric Yuan were married at 12pm on 12/12/12. Photo: Marco Del Grande

December 12 saw a record numbers of marriages at registries across NSW as couples tie the knot on the auspicious date.

The Sydney office of Births Deaths and Marriages, located in Chippendale, was booked for 80 ceremonies, 10 times the average number for a Wednesday.

Shudi Tang, 28, and Eric Yuan, 28, were lucky enough to land the noon time slot for their ceremony.

Once in a lifetime ... Renae Kearney and Blake Reilly. Photo: Marco Del Grande

They say that with their Chinese background, numbers are quite important to them.

"This is the last sequential date in this century and we think it's very special," said Ms Tang who booked the ceremony back in February.

Ms Alana Shiel, a spokeswoman from Births Deaths and Marriages, said the day broke records for the registry and that it has been preparing for more than a year.

Benz Yuan and Ya Zhang from Melbourne had to travel to Sydney to secure a ceremony. Photo: Marco Del Grande

Ms Shiel says Valentine's Day is usually popular for couples but "the special dates have proven to be the most popular of all".

There were 123 ceremonies booked at the four registries in NSW, with 80 in Sydney, 28 in Parramatta, 11 in Newcastle, and four in Wollongong.

Ms Shiel predicts there will be up to 1000 marriages across the state, including other church and civil ceremonies.

Function rooms in two nearby hotels were hired by the Sydney registry to accommodate the extra couples and opening hours have been extended until 9pm.

Benz Yuan, 31, and Ya Zhang, 26, live in Melbourne but had to come to Sydney to get married because Melbourne registries were all booked out. They have been dating for three years said they wanted to get married on December 12, 2012 because the numbers represented their unique bond.

Several couples Fairfax spoke to said they chose the date because it will make anniversaries easy to remember.

David Martin, 46, said he originally chose February 29 to marry his fiance Ping Yin, 33, but they weren't ready - 12/12/12/ was his next choice

"I just wanted something special," said Mr Martin. "If I tell a lot of my mates at work it's an easy date to remember I might get in trouble."

"I think it's quite special, if you want to get another triple date you'll wait more than another 80 years, and we can't wait that long," said Jiayi Qiu, who is marrying her partner of two years, Deyue Fang.