TORONTO - A steady stream of couples lined up at city halls and chapels across Canada Sunday, hoping their weddings would be a "perfect 10" on a day that only comes around once a century.

They wanted to get married on the tenth day of the tenth month of the tenth year, or 10-10-10.

Couples from some Asian cultures say the day is considered lucky while followers of numerology call the day "magical."

Toronto city hall usually does not perform marriages on Sundays, but demand for the date was so high that it opened up ceremonies at a downtown hotel to accommodate.

Bride Lu Gan, who is originally from China, chose to tie the knot Sunday because of the number's significance there.

"Ten is perfect for our culture," said Gan, who wore a traditional red dress.

"It's a sense of perfect in every way, and sense of completeness so we like it."

For Alpana and Virgile Kpodar, recent triple-digit dates have special meaning, and 10-10-10 was their third date and charm.

"Since 08-08-08 we've been planning to do a wedding, and on 09-09-09 we got engaged, and to me it makes sense that 10-10-10 would be the next," said Virgile, wearing a garland of green flowers around his neck in the Hindu tradition.

Groom Leszek Reinus, whose new wife Fei Shi is Chinese, said superstition had nothing to do with choosing the date.

"We thought it's very easy to remember in terms of the anniversary," he said.

The date may have brought luck in the weather department in Toronto, with sunshine and a high fo 22C, which is abnormally warm for an October day.

At the end of each ceremony, the official conducting the service wished the couple "long life and happiness."

People were scrambling to book a time slot up until the last minute, with some calling as late as Friday, hoping to get a space.

Last time city hall saw a surge in marriages was 09-09-09. The number of 10-10-10 weddings did not surpass the number of couples married on 08-08-08, said officials outside the make-shift chambers.

July 7, 2007 did not see a large number of weddings at city hall.

A Toronto numerologist has said couples who get married on the day are independent and want to make their own luck, unlike couples who married on purportedly lucky 07-07-07.

Toronto's 23 ceremonies Sunday had nothing on Shanghai.

More than 10,000 couples exchanged vows at the city's wedding registration offices, breaking the previous record set on 09-09-09, the Shanghai Daily reported.

And people from all over the world travelled to South Korea, were 7,200 couples said "I do" in a mass ceremony.