Weird reason brides are refusing to get hitched this year

The wedding industry is reporting a significant downhill plunge in the number of couples getting hitched this year, and the reason for this slump is rather perplexing.

“... We believe that the number 13 in 2013 is causing a small but meaningful number of brides to avoid getting married this year,” Doug Ewert, a representative from U.S. clothing retailer Men's Warehouse, tells Forbes.

Ewert cites a 10 per cent drop in sales due to the dwindling number of tuxedo rentals. And he's not the only one to notice the trend: wedding officiates, catering companies and DJs have also witnessed a drop in wedding bookings.

Brides are so caught up in every detail of making their big day perfect, it seems, that they were willing to postpone the most important day of their lives for an entire year just to avoid any sliver of bad luck.

Wedding officiate Alan Viau tells CBC that he usually officiates around 100 weddings a year, but this year he is running about 30 per cent short.

"Marriage is about love and hope, and people want to get everything on their side for the best hope for the future," he says. "If it involves [thinking] ‘Maybe we shouldn't have it on the 13th,’ that's what they're going to do."

Brides and grooms will be making up for 2013 by flooding wedding venues, flower shops and dress makers with requests for 2014, though, as industry experts report a never-before-seen number of advance wedding bookings.

Would you let a superstition get in the way of a major life event? Tell us in the comments below!