Do you remember what you were doing on November 11 last year?
It’s Remembrance Day, so you might have been at one of the many memorials held across the country. Maybe you were celebrating your freedom in line with “Singles’ Day”, a popular antidote to Valentine’s Day across Asia. Or perhaps, you were at a wedding.
November 11 was the most popular day for couples to tie the knot last year: 1799 couples walked down the aisle on that day across Australia.
Catherine Harbuz and Eugene Tang were married on November 11 2023.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Eugene Tang and Catherine Harbuz, both 30, were one such couple, marrying at the National Art School in Sydney’s east, a fitting location given the pair met studying art in Perth in 2012.
Both creatives, Tang and Harbuz had their first-look photos taken at Hibernian House, a graffiti-laden building in central Sydney, home to many artists. “We wanted somewhere that would feel a little bit cool, unique and funky,” says Harbuz, a high school visual arts administrator.
They chose their wedding date, Tang says, “because it was easy to remember and with four ones and then 23 it was a nice sequence”.
“It just had a good feel for it.”
While neither were aware of the popularity of the day, Harbuz says many vendors were booked out for November 11. And Tang, who works as a customer service representative at men’s tailoring business InStitchu, which caters to many weddings, says he noticed the date crop up repeatedly.
Melbourne-based consultant Tony Tran, 32, and his husband Jake, a 36-year-old lawyer, were another 11/11 couple. Tran, who is Vietnamese, says he initially chose April 15, since his uncle had informed him this would be the most auspicious day to marry based on his and his husband’s zodiac signs (coincidentally, April 15 was the 10th most popular wedding day last year). But unfortunately, their preferred reception venue was booked out. The couple had a traditional tea ceremony on April 15, and moved their wedding to November.
