Friday the 13th isn’t the first day one might think of for a wedding. But it is going to be a lucky day for Emily Simpson and Juan Tapia.
“I figured, ‘Let’s choose a pretty interesting, awesome date. Friday the 13th! Why not?’ “ Simpson explained of their unconventional wedding date.
Simpson and Tapia will get hitched Friday evening in a Spokane courthouse by Judge Aimee Maurer. They are not the only ones. A total of 10 couples are slated to get married in the Spokane courthouse on Friday the 13th — the most weddings in a single day the county courts have conducted in over a year, a court judicial assistant confirmed.
When his fiancée brought up the idea, Tapia was not opposed.
“I didn’t mind at all,” Tapia said . “I’d get married anytime. I love her.”
The pair are both busy — working full time, renovating a house, taking care of three kids between them. The couple is also expecting another child this November.
Simpson originally wanted a church ceremony, but with everything going on in their lives, a courthouse wedding seemed like a better choice. In fact, a newlywed Mrs. Tapia will be headed right back to work after her nuptials Friday evening.
The couple met two years ago at US Foods, where they both work.
Now their schedules are “complete opposites,” she said — having to kindle their romance in the scant few moments they have with each other each day.
“We run into each other at work, and then also run into each other at home. It’s a lot of hi’s and byes, but we make it work with each other,” she said. “And when we do have one day together, we make it worth it and appreciate the time that we do have together.”
They got engaged a few months after getting together two years ago.
Both are in their 30s and knew what they wanted.
“We’ve both been through a lot with our previous relationships. And we’re at that age where we’re just ready to find that person we’re going to grow old with,” the future Mrs. Tapia said. “And I know it sounds very cliché or just typical when you meet that person, but he’s been the one since I met him.”
Tapia said he was not looking for romance when he met his future wife — he was focused on his work and providing for his kids.
But through “pestering and jabbing” him to open up, he eventually did.
“I’m pretty shy, but I didn’t have to be with (her),” he said.
Simpson also described her soon-to-be husband as “quiet and shy” around other people. But there’s another side of Tapia that is “like a bright light” that only she gets to see, Simpson added.
Simpson and Tapia will not be dressed in Halloween regalia for the festivities, but they hope at least one of the other couples gets in a seasonal and spooky mood for their big day.
While they don’t plan to go too crazy with costumes at the courthouse, Megan Wicks and Alex Bartunek are planning to be festive with a burnt orange dress and a black and green suit.
This pair is into Halloween and the spooky side of Friday the 13th.
“We just thought that October Friday the 13th would just be the end-all-be-all of weird, creepy and scary. And that kind of goes right up our alley,” Bartunek said.
Wicks’ father was born on a Friday the 13th, so the date has never been ominous for her.
“It makes it more fun,” she said. “And you can kind of just have fun for the rest of your life with your anniversary, instead of it kind of just being another day. And this way, every Friday the 13th will be our anniversary — whether or not it’s in October.”
For Simpson and Tapia, Friday the 13th will always be a special day.
“There’s so much negative in the world. Let’s just go ahead and push through and make it a memorable one,” Simpson said.
“I don’t think Friday the 13th will be unlucky for me after tomorrow.”
