Getting ready to wed

Cutting styrofoam to hold the decorative ferns, Sonoma County Clerk Janice Atkinson readied the newly remodeled Sonoma County wedding room for this evening’s run.

By mid-day, 17 couples notified the county they were coming in for Monday evening weddings, the first day same-sex couples can legally wed under new law.

“This is the fun part of the job,” said Atkinson, referring to the upcoming nuptuals.

At about noon Monday, she and county worker Juan Diaz were putting finishing touches on the room, which includes a white archway draped in white lace, punctuated by a garland of fake white flowers.

The new decorations are timely, but were slated for the room anyway, Atkinson said.

Atkinson also had brought in a bouquet of blue and purple hydrangeas from her yard to add to the decorations.

The new law takes effect at 5 p.m. and the first wedding will start just after. The clerk’s office will be open at least until 8 p.m.

“If we’re not done at 8, we’ll be here until we’re done,” said Vicki Petersen, deputy county clerk.

For Tuesday, at least 27 couples were scheduled to become legally recognized as married couples.

Petersen was inundated with calls Monday, from both interested couples wondering about the details of getting a marriage license and the media.

More couples were expected to want to be wed on the first night and the county will accomodate as many as 30 couples Monday night, Atkinson said.

Two of the simple civil ceremonies can be conducted at once, as couples have their choice of locales.

Indoors, there’s the newly decorated wedding room that seats 12.

Outdoors, there’s a bit of a courtyard, with an archway covered in blooming trumpet vine and a backdrop of pink geraniums that could use some deadheading.

Petersen asked that anyone wishing to marry to call first so county officials make sure they are prepared.

Petersen spent Sunday at the annual Sonoma County Pride festival, where the atmosphere was part celebration and part bridal fair.

Petersen was ready with 1,000 new marriage license applications, enough for nearly everyone in attendance, and a hot pink schedule of the office's extended hours.

Others were ready, too.

A Santa Rosa church gave out a list of eight religious leaders willing to officiate gay weddings. A lesbian event planner handed out promotional fliers. And a Santa Rosa lodge promoted its gay marriage packages.

At last count, 97 gay couples had booked to marry in the Sonoma County Clerk's Office through August.

Petersen said she expects the historic event to be "an emotional evening for all."

Emotions spilled over at the Wells Fargo Center for the Arts on Sunday when a dozen couples shared vows before two Christian officiants during a symbolic commitment ceremony.

Longtime domestic partners Erin Kelley, 50, and Marilee Kreml, 49, of Santa Rosa whispered vows before kissing and embracing. Some cried.

The ceremony closed with "Chapel of Love" by a choir.

"This day is a day of hope," said one of the officiants, the Rev. David Park-Ramage of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Santa Rosa.

Today marks the end of a topsy-turvy and often confusing ride for same-sex couples hoping to wed soon after the state Supreme Court's ruling May 15 that redefined marriage.

"It's like the icing on the cake," said Rob Wulff, 62, of Santa Rosa, about his wedding scheduled for 7 p.m. today.

He shares a domestic partnership with Jim Eimers, 60, and the two will re-exchange the gold bands they already wear.

For many in committed relationships, choosing to marry, or re-marry, was viewed widely at Sunday's event as a political act signifying the end of a long fight for social and legal equality.

But the jubilation is more subdued than in 2004 when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom decreed the issuing of marriage licenses to gay couples.

Wulff and Eimers had scheduled a date to marry that fall, but a state Supreme Court ruling had voided the marriages.

This time, gay couples face the looming outcome of the Nov. 4 election, when California voters will consider a ballot initiative that would define marriage in the state as between a man and a woman.

At Sunday's festival in Santa Rosa, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Santa Rosa collected 75 signatures for volunteers to work toward defeating the ballot initiative.

Some experts have said same-sex weddings that occur before the election would remain legal if the measure is passed.

Many couples now feel a sense of urgency to marry before November, said event planner Brooke Lujan.

She was "ecstatic" upon hearing about the state court's 4-3 ruling, not just because it meant an end to the "undertone of sadness when you mention weddings to gay couples."

It also meant her partner might finally be willing to tie the knot, Lujan said.

Plus, it's good for business. Her red wedding flyer read, "We won! Let's celebrate."

It costs $75 for a marriage license and $50 to marry at the County Clerk's Office. A recent report from the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy estimates such clerk's fees will add up to $8.8 million to the state.

The institute, at the UCLA School of Law, also projects that same-sex couples could spend about $684 million on weddings in California over the next three years.

North Coast businesses hope to see some of that revenue. The historic Mark West Lodge in Santa Rosa also had its first booth at the Pride event.

One woman picked up a flyer and joked, "I want to get married at your garden. Now I just need to find a partner."

The County Clerk's Office is open until 8 p.m. today. The extended hours will be in effect for the rest of the month.

Alameda and Yolo counties also will remain open late to marry couples today. San Francisco and Los Angeles counties each plan to wed only one couple at 5:01 p.m. and then begin officiating an influx of nuptials Tuesday.

Kern and Butte county officials have announced they plan to no longer officiate any weddings -- gay or straight.

That decision doesn't sit right with Petersen, who referred to weddings in the County Clerk's Office as the "funnest and happiest things we do."

Plus, gay marriage is now "the law and we take it very seriously," she said. "We are responsible as public officials to uphold the law and we won't treat anybody differently."

Petersen is hoping for many more weddings -- gay and straight -- to make it worth staying open late. Three employees will be paid overtime and she gets her regular pay, a total of $6,400 in costs to the county, she said.

On Tuesday, 28 couples are scheduled to marry. The County Clerk's Office typically marries six couples a day.

The office also plans to open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday "strictly (for) licenses and ceremonies," Petersen said, for all couples. Only one wedding is booked so far that day, and it's for a gay couple.