A bride always gets what she wants -- unless, of course, what she wanted was July 7, 2007 as a wedding date.

For most wedding venues, 777, as it has become known, has been booked since early 2006, even 2005, by brides eager to have the 'lucky' numbers mark their special day.

Ramy Sallal, director of sales at Toronto banquet hall Bellagio, booked the date for a bride back in the spring of 2006.

Since then, his office has received a constant barrage of calls.

"It has been a very popular day but I didn't realize how popular it was until after I booked it," Sallal told CTV.ca. "The amount of calls after was amazing, I could have charged a premium for the date."

Sallal estimates he's received double the amount of usual inquiries asking about 777.

"It was definitely in demand because it's a number that's easy to remember and I guess some have superstitions," he said.

Natalie Carret and Mike Petrella weren't even aware of the significance of 777 when they booked their reception hall. They chose the date because they're both teachers and it fell right after their school season was finished.

"We booked it a year and a half in advance and then we found out... that apparently it was the most popular date in history," Carret told CTV.ca.

She said she had trouble booking services for the wedding because of such a high demand.

"When we were trying to book our limo bus I booked it a year and a month in advance and I was in tears because I couldn't get one," she said.

"Every company I called said you should have called earlier because 777 is the most popular date."

Shannon Guimond and Ryan Osborne, who also booked their venue in spring 2006, say they're "hooked" on their 777 wedding.

"We first chose July 14th, but before we'd booked the church or started looking for a hall, my mother mentioned that if we had the wedding a week earlier it would fall on 7/7/07," Guimond told CTV.ca. "Instantly we thought how cool is that, and that became our new wedding date. Since then we have been hooked on doing the 777 wedding."

Now they're all about finding connections to 777:

• Guimond's birthday is on January 7th (so Osborne says now "there's something to celebrate every six months.")
• both have seven letters in their last name
• Guimond's engagement ring has seven diamonds (chosen before the date had been picked)
• Guimond's wedding ring has seven diamonds (chosen after the date had been picked)

Rebecca Mead, a staff writer at The New Yorker and author of One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding, views the demand for 777 as part of a bigger movement.

"I think what it does indicate is this idea that people feel they have to make their wedding individual and memorable and special and distinct," Mead told CTV.ca. "It's part of that phenomenon."

She said the wedding industry pushes brides to have a theme for their big day.

"If you're searching for a theme then there's one right there and it's an original one and a funny one," said Mead.

However, she cautioned brides to be aware that their "hopes and dreams are somebody else's marketing opportunity."

"The point of a wedding is to celebrate the beginning of a marriage, if you spend all your time thinking about the production values of your wedding and an insufficient time thinking about what the marriage that follows is going to consist of than, yes, you are thinking about the wrong thing."