Dates with a mirrored sequence like 10-10-10 or 11-11-11 are believed to carry magic. After all, they only come around once in a century, which makes numerologists go gaga.It gives special bragging rights to those born on those dates, and they also become a popular choice for weddings. In fact, a spokesperson for Las Vegas’ wedding industry called 11-11-11 the Super Bowl of weddings. Lucky in love is certainly what two local couples had in mind when they chose 11-11-11 as a day to wed and to renew their wedding vows.A first for everythingMarriage wasn’t on the agenda when Bethany Rebecca Benedict and Dustin Matthew Joseph first met.It never is when you’re in first grade.Like all the other 6- and 7-year-olds at Coventry Township’s Lakeview Elementary School, Bethany and Dustin were much too preoccupied with learning to read, write, add and subtract, with recess and following teacher Valnea Para’s orders, to think about anything that serious.Well, at least Dustin was.Bethany, on the other hand, said she developed a quiet crush day one on the “cute boy” with a seemingly never-ending wardrobe of Swatch watches and Converse and Vans sneakers of all colors and styles.Although they were friends throughout elementary and high school — Coventry High School class of ’96 — they never dated. Too shy, both agreed.“After high school they went their separate ways ­— she to college at High Point University in North Carolina and he to the Coast Guard, his career,” mother-of-the-bride Lyn Benedict of Green happily shared in an email last week alerting me to their story.Recently, however, the two reconnected on Facebook, one thing led to another and ultimately to their wedding on 11-11-11.To really capture the magic, the couple chose the very place where they first came together — their first-grade classroom at Lakeview — to speak their vows. The school, built in 1925, is now Summit ATM (Academic Technology Motivation).I rang the bride-to-be last week and asked her to take me on a sentimental journey back to first grade. I reached her in Sault Ste. Marie in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where Dustin, , chief warrant officer, is stationed.“I remember him being really cute,” was how Bethany opened the book on their great love story.“I even liked the way his plastic school box looked,” she continued. “He always kept it nice and clean. Just like mine. And his pencils were always sharpened.” How’s that for details?Obviously their paths crossed many times over their years in school. They worked together at the Acme on Manchester Road — he for two years and she for six months before moving on to Kmart. They even signed each other’s high school yearbooks. Love connectionYet a love connection never developed, not until recently.Both Bethany and Dustin — who share a love of animals and traveling and refer to themselves as “beach people” — passed the neatness test on their return trip to school.The bride wore a strapless, champagne-colored satin sheath dress with a black sash and carried a bouquet of crimson roses and Gerber daises. And the groom donned his white military dress uniform.Among those in attendance were the bride’s parents, Lyn and Robert Benedict of Green, and the bridegroom’s mother, Peg Joseph of Akron. The couple’s dog, a Westie named Roxy, wore a pink collar trimmed with miniature rhinestone Westies and a cream-colored rose.The mostly quiet Roxy, who was Dustin’s dog first, did bark something or other during the part in the vows when the minister, the Rev. Elizabeth Stone (United Methodist, retired), asked him to forsake all others. Don’t know what that was about. What a sweet reminder to all of us that the true elements of love as shared in Bethany’s choice of Scripture, 1 Corinthians 3: “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”Elementary, if we think about it!Renewing their vowsKent’s Joshua and Michelle (Spigelmire) Brooks — who were actually married in April — won an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City via a contest to renew their vows at 11 a.m. on 11-11-11.Their magic also came courtesy of Facebook.Joshua first learned about the contest while listening to Tough Love host and matchmaker Steve Ward on the radio about Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts’ Facebook “Marry Me 11-11-11” contest for 11 couples.It read like this: “We’re looking for couples from the U.S. who want to tie the knot, newly engaged couples, and those who want to renew their vows. Tell us your love story now for the chance to be among them. After all, 11-11-11 only comes around every 100 years!”So, Joshua — unbeknownst at first to his bride — got busy composing the required 250-word essay in order to be among the lucky 11 to participate in the ceremony and celebration at Crowne Plaza’s Times Square property.It would be a chance to give Michelle the wedding she deserved, Joshua, 34 and presently unemployed, reasoned.The couple were engaged May 9, 2009, and had planned a big wedding. But economics and other things resulted in a change in their plans.When Joshua was notified that he and 35-year-old Michelle had, in his words, “hit the Top 25,” and would need to be interviewed together, he had to tell her.“We met over 20 years ago. But we had forgotten about it,” Joshua said. “Then we got reacquainted a few years ago through mutual friends who put us in the same room. “I thought she was cute and I said so. Turns out she was in the same boat.”When he went to meet her family, the story of their first meeting came back to both of them.“We were driving down the street where her family lived and I said, ‘I used to know people on this street. I used to go trick or treating here.’ Then I called her parents’ names. Michelle was so much in shock that she ended up passing her own house.” Needless to say, Joshua was immediately accepted into Michelle’s family. Both had been previously married with children. They also have a new baby together. Their prize included round-trip airfare to New York City, upscale accommodations, a pre-wedding day tour of the city’s most romantic spots, a rehearsal cocktail party at the Crowne Plaza Times Square Manhattan, a dream wedding on 11-11-11 at 11 a.m. with Ward officiating, a post-wedding celebration and more.Truly icing on the cake!Birthday celebrations Special 11-11-11 birthday greetings to 11-year-olds Brittany Lucas of Jackson Township and Michael Paljich of Manchester.Michael, son of Mickey and Jennifer Paljich, is a fifth-grader at Manchester Middle School. Brittany, daughter of Mary Ann and John Lucas and a fifth-grader at Sauder Elementary School in Jackson Township, also holds the distinction of having been born at 11:11 a.m. Jewell Cardwell can be reached at 330-996-3567 or emailed at jcardwell@thebeaconjournal.com.