Hundreds of German couples chose Saturday as an auspicious day to marry, because it was the seventh day of the seventh month of the seventh year of the century. But the ceremony was marred for one couple when the marriage registrar dropped dead midway through, according to a newspaper, the Darmstaedter Echo. The man, 44, who had a history of heart complaints, could not be revived from cardiac arrest. Another registrar completed the wedding. Officials at the register office in Darmstadt, south of Frankfurt, said they managed to keep the death a secret from other couples lined up outside the room to exchange vows, the paper was to report Monday. Up and down Germany, registrars were busier than usual because many couples believed the date promised marital harmony.
