Skip to Content TIME U.S. Sections -> * Home * NewsFeed * U.S. * Politics * World * Business * Tech * Health * Science * Entertainment * Video * TIME 100 * Photos * Magazine * LIFE.com * Lists * Sports Search Search TIME ____________________ Go * Follow + Facebook + Twitter + Google+ + Tumblr + RSS * Apps Getting Married on 9/11: The Terrorism Discount By Kayla Webley Saturday, Sept. 10, 2011 * Share + + Tweet + + * Read Later + [white-15.png] Send to Kindle + + Tom Merton / Getty Images Related * Revisiting 9/11: Never Before Seen Photographs by James Nachtwey * Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience * Email * Print * Share + Facebook + Twitter + Tumblr + LinkedIn + StumbleUpon + Reddit + Digg + Mixx + Del.i.cious + Google+ * Comment * Reprints Follow @TIME Like many brides, Alexis Kreimer on her wedding day will get her hair and makeup done, step into an elaborate gown and pose for photos with her soon-to-be husband before they walk down the aisle. But in addition to all the usual wedding-planning details — choosing the flavor of their cake, the color of the flowers in her bouquet — Kreimer had to decide whether to observe a moment of silence. That's because she and her fiance chose to wed on the 10th anniversary of 9/11. "I've always considered it a day of mourning, of remembrance," says Kreimer, 24, a speech pathologist from Long Island, New York. So why choose that day to get married? Because she wanted to tie the knot in September and because the New Jersey venue she had her heart set on — an event space in New Jersey, just a short drive from where the attacks occurred in Manhattan — only had Sept. 11 available. "We definitely had to think about it," Kreimer says, even after the venue, which was having trouble booking an event on that day, offered her a discount of about $50 a head. In the end, she and her fiance decided to mark the day with a joyful occasion. "We remember the lives that were lost, but you have to keep living your life," she says. (See TIME's special report, "Beyond 9/11: Portraits of Resilience.") Their decision makes them something of a rarity, at least in the parts of the country near Ground Zero: of the 30 or so New York City–based wedding planners TIME contacted for this story, the vast majority said they were not planning a wedding on Sept. 11. But elsewhere in the U.S., more people are choosing to marry on Sept. 11, according to statistics from the wedding-planning website, TheKnot.com. The site, which tracks wedding trends based on data that couples input when they are registering on the website, reports 1,712 registered weddings this year on Sept. 11 — that's nearly double the number of weddings the last time the date fell on a Sunday, in 2005. Similarly, last year, when the anniversary fell on a Saturday — the most popular day of the week for weddings — there were 9,210 ceremonies registered on the site, a significant increase from Saturday, Sept. 11, 2004, when there were 5,303. "What we're seeing is a lot of couples are reclaiming the day as a happy event," says Anja Winikka, an editor at TheKnot.com. That's what Antoinette Perrie and Philip D'Ambrosio decided to do when they booked a beach venue for this Sunday on Long Island. Perrie, 57, a chiropractor and acupuncturist in Queens, said she and her fiance sat down to plan their wedding about six months ago. At that time, their favorite venue was essentially all booked up. "The manager looked at me, and she said, 'Well, I do have one date, but no one wants it,'" Perrie says. "Once she told me, I thought, you know, I am not going to be spooked by this day. I thought if I said no, the terrorists would win." (See the definitive photos from 9/11.) Perrie and her fiance plan to have the chaplain say a few words about 9/11 during the ceremony, and they will fly American flags on the beach in remembrance. Kreimer decided to include a moment of silence. But for at least some Sept. 11 brides, the date has cast too dark a shadow on their big day. "I wanted to turn it into something good," Vanessa Castillo, who lives in Miami and runs a construction company with her husband, says of getting married last year on Sept. 11. "But now we're celebrating one year and everyone says, 'Wow, I can't believe you've been married a year, but can you believe it's been 10 years since 9/11?' There's always a but. Forget me and my husband celebrating. It's going to be a sad day." Her wedding planner, Cheryl Fielding-LoPalo, president of Cheryl J. Weddings & Events, says she has tried telling Castillo that the 10th anniversary is a special case and that down the road, there won't be quite so much attention paid to it. Nevertheless, Castillo and her husband plan to celebrate their anniversary in future years on March 18, the day they were legally wed at a courthouse. "She's feeling like she isn't allowed to be happy" on 9/11, Fielding-LoPalo says. "That's too bad because I don't think anyone who was impacted would ever wish that someone else couldn't find joy on that day." See James Nachtwey's unpublished 9/11 photos. See perspectives from the 9/11 generation. The Magazine Subscribe Current Time.com Cover * The Year in Pictures * Photos: 2013: The Year In Culture * Even After Volcker, Banks Aren't Safe Enough * 10 Questions with Rick Warren * Table of Contents * Subscribe Now * Online Issue Archive Most Read 1. 'The Wolf of Wall Street': The True Story 2. 5 Simple Steps to a Better 2014 3. 'The Wolf of Wall Street': Scorsese and DiCaprio Fall For the Big Con 4. A Newly Discovered Underground Lake in Greenland Will Help Us Understand Climate Change 5. 50 Best Android Apps for 2013 6. Snapchat Weakness Would Reportedly Allow Phone Numbers to Be Matched to User Accounts 7. Pope Francis Excommunicates Priest Who Backed Women's Ordination and Gays 8. The Most Surprising Photos of 2013 9. The Navy's Amazing Ocean-Powered Underwater Drone 10. Arts and Entertainment Most Emailed 1. 50 Best Android Apps for 2013 2. Windows XP to Become a Hacker's Dream in 2014, Experts Warn 3. How Many Steps Does it Take to Avoid a Heart Attack? Researchers Find Out 4. 'The Wolf of Wall Street': The True Story 5. The Navy's Amazing Ocean-Powered Underwater Drone 6. Here's What Christmas Morning Would Look Like Through the Lens of Your Favorite Directors 7. Artist Creates 3D Art Using Strangers' DNA 8. Ralph Fiennes' 'The Invisible Woman': Dickens in Love 9. UPS Bosses Hit The Road To Deliver Late Christmas Packages 10. The Target Credit Card Breach: What You Should Know More News from Our Partners Slate * * * Huffington Post * [] * [] * [] Sponsored A Pragmatist's Guide for Living She heads an organization that has been part of the lives of 59 million American women. Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Anna Maria Chavez still relies on the values instilled in her many years ago, including her belief in data-driven decision-making TIME NewslettersSee all Newsletters Newsletter Free! Sign Up Now * Breaking News * Politics * Entertainment * LightBox * and more... Your Email ____________________ (Submit) Go Voices * Joel Stein The Year of Not Trying Too Hard * James Poniewozik 2013 TV in Review: The Rise of Craft-Brewed Television * Richard Corliss Critics Awards 2: Judgment Daze * Rana Foroohar The Original Wolf of Wall Street Carl Icahn Returns * Joe Klein Bashar Assad, The Lethal Tyrant * Fareed Zakaria Big Fuss Over a Small Iran Deal * iPad * iPhone * Android * TIME TV * Populist * The Page * TIME Home * NewsFeed * U.S. * Politics * World * Business * Tech * Health * Science * Entertainment * Photos * Videos * Lists * Magazine * (c) 2013 Time Inc. All rights reserved * Privacy Policy * Your California Privacy Rights * RSS * Newsletter * Mobile * TIME For Kids * Subscribe * Contact Us * Terms of Use * Media Kit * Reprints & Permissions * Help * Site Map * Ad Choices * Custom Content TIME logo our partners CNN logo CNN Money logo