Tyler Orton and Lizzy McErlean’s wedding at &pizza last Pi Day. (Photo courtesy of &pizza)

For the third year in a row, &pizza is ringing in Pi Day with wedding bells and this time, more than 50 couples in three cities have already signed up to tie the knot at the fast casual pizza joint.

The tradition began in 2015 with one wedding on March 14, which is called Pi Day because 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of the mathematical constant. &pizza celebrates the offbeat holiday because, well, pizza pie. (Forget for a moment that they serve up rectangular pizzas.)

&pizza found their first couple in collaboration with Pop! Wed Co and married them in their U Street shop “in front of the brass ampersand and it was just such an incredible thing,” says Sam Blum, &pizza’s community manager. “The bride was a math teacher so it was totally her holiday.”

In 2016, the pizzeria expanded its nuptial celebrations. Thirteen couples came through the newly opened Columbia Heights store for what Blum describes as “the complete pizza lover’s wedding,” five of which were actual weddings (the rest were vow renewals and the like). It included beer, wine, champagne, bouquets, officiation, photography, and, of course, hearty helpings of pizza.

“It struck me as such a D.C. thing to do,” says Lizzy McErlean, who married her husband Tyler Orton at &pizza nearly a year ago. “So much of our love story centers around loving the quirkiness of D.C., and it really appealed to both of us. It was the perfect kind of setting to start our life together.”

McErlean and Orton met at bike festival Tour De Fat in 2012, but she jokingly describes them as “star-crossed bike lovers” in the years before they connected.

Back in 2009, McErlean bought a custom-made bike in Falls Church which, unbeknownst to her, was built by Orton. After that, he would spot his handiwork locked up around town but never the rider, until the fateful day when the two finally met and began dating.

Orton proposed to McErlean at Tour de Fat three years later. Then, it was on them to plan their wedding. While they wanted to mark the occasion, they didn’t want to throw an expensive bash (the average cost of a wedding is more than $31,000, according to The Knot).

“I didn’t want to just quietly sign the papers somewhere,” says McErlean. Then, Orton sent her a write-up on DCist about the &pizza offering.

“It was spontaneous, but also quirky and cool,” she says. “Tyler’s favorite food in the world is pizza.”

McErlean says their families didn’t push back against their wedding plans, namely a ceremony at a pizza shop at 9 a.m. on a Monday morning.

“My mom thought it was really cool,” she says. “Why not? You should make it whatever you want it to be. [Our families] were really supportive and not hung up on traditions that didn’t fit us anyway.”

She remembers how the officiant “even worked in a pizza pun at Tyler’s request,” much to their delight. After their ceremony, they stuck around to watch other couples get hitched. “It felt like a really big day to celebrate love.”

Blum says &pizza is even further expanding its wedding scope this year to two cities beyond D.C.—Baltimore, and Philadelphia, which both saw the openings of new stores this year. In the District, festivities will be centered at the Chinatown location.

“We’re working on some exciting menu innovations,” he adds. “We’re also in the process of hopefully getting some cool and well-known officiants.”

The only officiant he would disclose is &pizza CEO and co-founder Michael Lastoria. “He loves this day,” says Blum. “It’s become one of our most iconic brand stories.”

Will &pizza be able to marry more than 50 couples on Pi Day? “It’s contingent on the schedule,” Blum says. “We’re trying to get as many through as we can.”

He adds that the interest demonstrates that “couples feel connected to us as a brand and are willing to put themselves out there” in answering the questionnaire, which asks about their love story and reasons for wanting to marry at &pizza.

It’s not just couples who connect with the pizza joint. One “tribemember,” as the company calls its employees, “really loved our ampersand logo, and felt connected to our brand and core values—that ‘go anywhere, do anything’ lifestyle,” and got a tattoo, says Blum, “We paid for that tattoo and that’s what turned into one of our company-wide benefits.”

More than 60 tribemembers have taken advantage of it, he says, and now more than 20 guests have gotten inked as well.

Now, at new &pizza openings, the first five people to request the ampersand tattoo get free pizza for a year. “Each opening, I’ve had my five people before we even opened the doors.”

To sign up to get married at &pizza this Pi Day, go here.