Leap Day popular choice as a Dutch wedding day

Double the average number

RIJSWIJK - Around 250 Dutch couples said “I do” on the 2012 Leap Day, on February 29, reports Central Statistics Bureau (CBS) in the Netherlands. That is twice as many weddings as on an average Wednesday in February.

According to the bureau, February is not generally a popular month to tie the marriage knot. Although Valentine’s Day is celebrated in February in the Netherlands as well, it is not motivating couples to marry on that day. Less than five percent of marriages take place in the second month of the year.

A major exception was February 2002, when 515 couples exchanged marriage vows on February 2, among them Dutch King-in-waiting, Prince Willem-Alexander and his bride Princess Máxima.