ROTTERDAM — Shawn Shepard may have a hard time convincing his wife that he forgot their anniversary if he’s late on a gift next year.

That’s because Shepard, 34, and his new wife, Anna Sousa, 32, were one of six couples to get married at Rotterdam Town Hall on Friday — 8-8-08.

“I’m more than happy. I can’t even explain it, I’ll just start crying,” Shawn Shepard said after the short proceeding with Town Clerk and Marriage Officer Eunice Esposito.

“This is all just about getting married and being a family. We’ll worry about [everything else] later.”

The couple actually chose Aug. 8, 2008, because it was one year after their first date last year.

Once the wedding date was set back in February, Shawn said he realized it would be easy to remember because of the triple eights.

The family posed with Esposito after the ceremony and took pictures with friends and family before leaving Town Hall.

Shawn Shepard was emotional during the ceremony as he placed a ring on his bride’s finger.

“He was really nervous. Nice guy,” Esposito said. “It’s the one part of my job I really like because everybody’s happy.”

Esposito said she has done hundreds of weddings but said Shawn Shepard was one of the most emotional grooms she’s seen.

“I don’t think it’s really hit me yet,” Anna Shepard said after the marriage.

Meanwhile, many other couples across the world are taking the opportunity to mark their special day on a special date. In China, the pronunciation of the word “eight” sounds like the phrase for “great fortune,” said Han-Chia Li, an instructor of Chinese at the University of Mississippi. A reported record 9,000 Chinese couples plan to tie the knot on Aug. 8, 2008.

In the United States, the wedding and gift registry site WeddingChannel.com has seen a 213 percent increase in weddings for Aug. 8, 2008, compared with the same Friday last year on Aug. 10, said Summer Krecke, the deputy editor.

Many marrying couples are carrying eight even further with eight-course dinners, eight bridesmaids and 8:08 p.m. first dances.

Along with great fortune, the number eight is the atomic number for oxygen. There are eight days of Hanukkah. The symbol for infinity takes on the shape of a sideways eight, and there are eight planets, now that Pluto has been demoted.

“We chose the date because eight has always been our lucky number,” said upcoming bride Denise Becker, 26, a middle school teacher in East Northport, a town in Suffolk County.

Another 8-8-08 bride, Stacy Ebert, 34, of Surprise, Ariz., has a long relationship with the number.

“I like the way it looks, that it’s continuous,” said Ebert, a Home Depot cashier. “We waited until 2008 because I like eight. Otherwise we would have gotten married earlier.”

Material from an Associated Press report was included in this story.