12/12/12 -- mark your calendar

Brides love it. Event planners do, too. And numerologists say babies born on this date will come prepackaged with the energy of creativity, artistic beauty, harmony and celebrations.

It's Dec. 12, 2012, the last triple-number day of the century. At least 67 weddings are planned for the day, said John Franz, president of Twin City Bridal Association.

"It's very unusual," he said. "Who gets married on a Wednesday?"

Well, that would be Alison Behr and Gophers football running back MarQueis Gray. Why 12-12-12?

"Because we've got twins born on 11-11-11," Behr explained. Gray had to run the date by his coach first, though, after the team was picked for the Meineke Car Care Bowl in Houston later this month. He'll have a morning team meeting and afternoon wedding.

The number 12 comes up a lot: 12 days of Christmas, 12 apostles, 12 months, 12 signs of the Zodiac, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 cranial nerves in your skull, 12 successors to the prophet Mohammed and 12 knights at King Arthur's round table. And plenty more.

A draw for number nerds

"It's my fiancé, Joshua Conroy -- he's a number nerd," she said. "He loves patterns and evenness and balance. I like even numbers, too, but this was all his idea. I just went along with it."

Both Leffel and Behr got dresses from David's Bridal in Richfield, where manager Wendy Wilson was "gratified but not amazed" that 31 of her brides are getting married on 12-12-12.

"We know to look for that. There's something about those dates -- 7-7-7, 11-11-11 and now 12-12-12 -- that seems to draw people," she said. "I even have it in my family. An aunt was married on 11-11-11."

But it was numerology that led Jill Johnson of Fargo to seize on Dec. 12 for her wedding with Cory Hanson. They left Friday for their ceremony in Costa Rica.

She has worked for five years with New Hope numerologist Wes Hamilton, "and he's been so on target with things," Johnson said. "I thought about the 12th and checked with him, and that confirmed it."

"It all comes down to the numbers 3 and 9 -- 3 from adding the 1 and 2 in 12, and 9 from adding the 12, 12 and 12," he said.

"They stand for global thinking, world consciousness and transition to new and better days," Hamilton said.

For a Plymouth family, the day is simply a "once-in-a-century chance to celebrate our name," said Steve Twelves, an engineer at General Mills. The name of fewer than 100 Americans came from English forebears who "probably shortened the name from something, Twelveoaks or Twelveboulders or something."

So Steve and Sally Twelves planned a 12:12 a.m. phone call to their two kids in college, a later call to his mom and sisters on the East Coast to celebrate the day, and dinner for 12 at Lucky 13's Pub in Plymouth, which so far, he said, has declined a temporary name change to Lucky 12.

Baby bonus: Intelligence

This is the last triple-number date of the century, but there's one more day that could draw a crush of brides, said Charly Rok, who handles publicity in New York for David's Bridal.

"Just wait," she said. "There's Nov. 12, 2013 -- 11-12-13."