Leap day, or February 29, is a rare date that occurs only once every four years. For some couples, it is also a special day to tie the knot and mark their love. But how do they celebrate their anniversary when their wedding date is missing from the calendar for three out of four years?
A fun talking point
Josh McConnell and his wife are one of the leap day couples who got married on February 29, 2020, in New Zealand. The Toronto-based writer said he has had the same conversation so often it’s starting to feel like he’s reading off a script.
He and his wife are gearing up to celebrate their first anniversary, he will tell a co-worker or acquaintance. “I thought you’d been married for years,” they respond. Both things are true: McConnell and his partner married on Feb. 29, 2020, so this is the first year they’ll be able to celebrate on the same calendar day they were wed. It gives them an uncommon anniversary — and a fun talking point.
“It’s like it’s all rehearsed,” he said in a recent phone interview. “There’s something fun about that, which is kind of juicy.”
A logical card
McConnell and his wife have a practical way of celebrating their anniversary every year. Their Feb. 29 wedding was held in her native New Zealand, when it was still Feb. 28 in his home country of Canada.
“We play the logical card,” he said. When they got married, they planned to splash out every Feb. 29 and keep their Feb. 28 anniversaries low-key. That’s still the plan — for upcoming leap years. Family circumstances have led them to delay a planned New Zealand trip until 2025, so this year they’re going out for a nice dinner and they’ll do something big again in 2028.
Even with the smaller-than-expected festivities, McConnell said he and his partner are taking this time to reflect on all the changes in their lives since 2020.
“It’s a real moment to be like: a lot has happened in four years,” McConnell said. “It’s a cool way to mark the journey.”
A leap of faith
Not all leap day couples are as pragmatic as McConnell and his wife. Some embrace the rarity and whimsy of their wedding date and make it a part of their identity.
That’s the case for Sarah and Ryan Anderson, who got married on February 29, 2016, in Ontario. The couple said they chose the date because they wanted something different and memorable.
“We thought it would be fun to have a leap day wedding and only celebrate every four years,” Sarah said. “We also liked the idea of taking a leap of faith on leap day.”
The Andersons said they don’t celebrate their anniversary on non-leap years, but they do acknowledge it with a card or a text. They said they enjoy the reactions they get from people when they tell them their wedding date.
“Some people think it’s cool, some people think it’s crazy,” Ryan said. “We’ve heard jokes like ‘you only have to buy flowers every four years’ or ‘you’re only one-quarter married.’”
The couple said they are looking forward to celebrating their first official anniversary this year with a trip to Niagara Falls. They said they don’t mind waiting four years for their anniversary, because it makes it more special.
“It’s like having a birthday on Christmas,” Sarah said. “You get to celebrate twice as much.”
A leap year tradition
Leap day weddings are not a new phenomenon. They have been around for centuries, and have been associated with various traditions and superstitions.
According to some folklore, leap day is the only day when women can propose to men, reversing the conventional gender roles. This tradition is said to have originated in Ireland in the fifth century, when St. Bridget complained to St. Patrick about women having to wait for men to propose. He then granted women the right to pop the question on leap day.
Some cultures also consider leap day to be a lucky or unlucky day for marriage. In Scotland, it was believed that leap day was an auspicious day to get married, while in Greece, it was considered a bad omen. Some people also believe that leap day babies, or “leaplings”, have special talents or abilities.
Whether leap day couples believe in these myths or not, they share a common bond of having a unique and rare wedding date. They also have to deal with some practical issues, such as how to fill out official forms that don’t have February 29 as an option, or how to explain their anniversary to their children.
But for most leap day couples, these challenges are outweighed by the joy and excitement of celebrating their love on a day that only comes once every four years.
