Love me ten-der: Couples flock to wed on Sunday

IT IS a once-in-a-century chance to tie the knot, when the big day is unlikely to score anything other than 10 out of 10. Scores of happy couples will descend on Scotland's wedding capital this weekend to exchange their vows on the unique date of 10/10/10.

• Gretna will host 46 weddings on Sunday, when the date will be a memorable 10/10/10. Picture: Getty

On what is known as the day of "perfect tens", tens of thousands of marriages will be held around the world on Sunday to coincide with the chronological quirk.

At Gretna Green, long the nation's most popular wedding destination, some 46 couples will tie the knot at religious and civil ceremonies. On an ordinary Sunday in October, the number is about ten.

The majority are from Scotland, coming from as far afield as Aberdeenshire and the Borders. Other parties, however, are jetting in from abroad, with couples due from Europe and South America.

"People want a date that's going to be significant," said Jane Chandler, senior registrar at Gretna's registration office. "There's only another two of these dates left this century, and people realise there's something special about it.

"There's couples from every corner of the UK, coming from Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales. But we also have couples travelling from Germany and Chile. I can't remember the last time we had someone coming from Chile, we're just hoping they bring the hot weather.

"We're going to be flat out. It's going to be very, very busy, but a good busy. I've been in the job 20 years, and although it sounds like a cliche, these kind of occasions like Valentine's Day are very happy."

On 9 September last year, 9/9/09, only 28 weddings took place at Gretna, with the low turnout attributed to the fact the date fell on a weekday. On the preceding two years' special dates, however, the Dumfriesshire town hosted as many as 78 weddings.

Indeed, one wedding party due in Gretna on Sunday even postponed their special day from last year. As Ms Chandler explained, they decided against 2009 because the date "made them think of the emergency number".

She joked that some husbands-to-be may even have proposed the special date for 2010 knowing that it would serve as a useful memory aid, adding: "No disrespect, but men aren't very good at remembering dates. If you keep the numbers the same you can't go wrong."

While the register office itself will be closed, the weddings will be carried out by ministers and civil celebrants at a range of licensed venues.

Ms Chandler said she is bracing herself for a rush of applications from couples looking to marry on 20 October, when the date will be 20/10/2010, but so far, interest has been low compared with the 10th day of the 10th month of the 10th year of the century.

The flurry of weddings at Gretna will be matched around the world, with tens of thousands due to take place.Elsewhere in Britain, Manchester's 163-year-old register office is opening on a Sunday for only the third time in its history so six couples can get hitched, while in the Nottinghamshire village of Morton, seven couples will be saying their vows in a series of ceremonies at their local public house.