BILLINGS — For many, weddings are a once-in-a-lifetime event and New Year's Eve has always been a popular day to tie the knot across the nation. This year, the day is expected to be even more popular with the notable date pattern of 123123.
Las Vegas sees around 400 to 500 weddings on New Year's Eve. As the final countdown to the upcoming new year quickly approaches, couples are racing to Las Vegas to try to beat the clock to say 'I do' and the city is expected to see more weddings than ever before.
“You know, it’s an interesting date,” the owner of DanWalt Gardens Clint Lunde said on Sunday. “Nationwide, I think there’s a lot of people getting married, but I don’t think it’s too big of a deal here in Billings.”
DanWalt Gardens hosted 37 weddings in 2023, but no one was getting married on the last day of the year. Lunde said he wasn't shocked that many of the wedding venues in Billings weren't booked for New Year's Eve.
He said he sees more couples pick dates that are special to them.
“A date that, when they met, or maybe it was their first date and they want to get married on that date. That kind of thing,” Lunde said.
Wedding Officiant Karen Saint has been in the business since 2017. She fell in love with the job after doing a friend's wedding.
“Helping people tie the knot, I mean what better thing could you do?” Saint said.
While she said in 2023 she averaged around one wedding per week, Saint has never officiated a New Year's Eve wedding.
“Forty percent of people get engaged between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day, so that’s usually not when the weddings are,” Saint said.
With outdoor weddings popular in Montana, planning to tie the knot in winter can be challenging. Saint also said that many people already have plans to celebrate the new year.
“A lot of the venues are already booked with New Year's Eve events,” Saint said.
While Billings may not be breaking any records for couples kissing at the alter, there still will be plenty of 'Happy New Year's' heard around town.
