For Same-###### Couples, Day 1 of 'I Do'

By ANDREW GROSSMAN Hundreds of same-###### couples exchanged wedding vows in New York on Sunday, as the state became the sixth and largest to allow gay marriage. The festivities started at midnight, when mayors in Albany and Niagara Falls officiated at weddings. In Manhattan, soon-to-be-married couples started <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/red-bull-hat-c-15.html"><strong>red bull hat</strong></a> lining up outside the city clerk's office on Worth Street before dawn. By the end of the day, 659 marriage licenses would be handed out in New York City. In the evening, Michael Bloomberg became the first city mayor to conduct a same-###### wedding. He presided over the nuptials of two aides at an outdoor ceremony at Gracie Mansion. "Two people who loved each other dearly came together and pledged their lives to each other," he said. "I'm glad I asked to be a part of it." At 7:30 a.m., Greg Schooler and his partner of 11 years arrived clutching cups of coffee. They found themselves in a line already more than 100 deep. "I got a text at about 6:45 saying there was about two-dozen couples already in line," said Mr. Schooler, 39 years old, who works in sales. "We knew to get here early. Especially with the sun, you don't want to be standing outside all day." People waited in line into the early afternoon, as the temperature climbed to 90 degrees. Vendors sold rainbow flags, beads and T-shirts. Wedding photographers walked the line offering last-minute services while flower sellers hawked bouquets. Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of Congregation Beit Simchat set up a tent across the street to officiate Jewish ceremonies. Many of the couples who said "I do" in simple, short ceremonies around the five boroughs had been together for decades. Some, like Mr. Schooler and his partner, had already gone through commitment ceremonies or been married elsewhere. The crowds, paperwork and relatively short notice—the bill legalizing same-###### marriage passed a month ago—made elaborate ceremonies rare among those wed on Sunday. Phyllis Siegel, 77, and her partner of 23 years, Connie Kopelov, 85, were the first to wed in Manhattan. The crowd outside the clerk's office cheered as Ms. Siegel pushed Ms. Kopelov's wheelchair out the front door just after 9 a.m. Ms. Kopelov held up a blue-and-white marriage certificate while Ms. Siegel raised both arms in the air. "Twenty-three <a href="http://www.newerahatstock.com/"><strong>wholeslae new era hats</strong></a> more," Ms. Siegel said. "Wonderful. What a feeling. It's indescribable. It was just so amazing. It's the only way I can describe it." City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a lesbian, watched the ceremony with her partner Kim Catullo. The pair plans to marry next spring. "When the city clerk said, 'I now, under the power of the laws of the state of New York, marry you,' it was an unbelievable thing to hear," Ms. Quinn said. "To hear that he was marrying these two women...because the laws of my state give him that power, it was an overwhelming and thrilling thing." Ms. Quinn, widely seen as a front-runner in the 2013 mayoral election, spent much of her day watching weddings and congratulating newlyweds, first in Manhattan, then in Brooklyn and Queens. At the clerk's office in Queens, she met Jennifer <a href="http://newerahatstock.com/lacoste-hat-c-9.html"><strong>lacoste hat</strong></a> and Juliza Melendez after they became the 76th couple to marry there, with three daughters in tow. All wore off-white. Cheery staffers wearing bright orange baseball caps ushered the eager couples through a maze of paperwork and offices. "My sincerest thank you for working on Sunday," Jennifer said to one of the office employees as he handed her the marriage license. The couple was considering getting married in Connecticut, but when New York legalized gay marriage they decided to marry in their hometown. After reading the couple their vows, Judge Thomas Raffaele asked if either woman wanted to add anything. "Today will mark the beginning of our official marriage," Jennifer said to Juliza. "But from day one my heart has belonged to you." There were protests scattered around the city, including a demonstration outside the Manhattan office of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Same-###### marriage opponents have argued that the issue should be put to a statewide referendum and have vowed to spend heavily to defeat Republican lawmakers who voted in favor of legalization. But the mood outside clerk's offices was largely celebratory. Julie Irwin and her husband, Steve Landis, brought their twin 4-year-old daughters from Cobble Hill to the Brooklyn Municipal Building. They offered them as flower girls for marrying couples. Ms. Irwin said she wanted <a href="http://www.paalupaikka.com/galleria/displayimage.php?pos=-176"><strong>Emily Paine, Jonathan Knickerbocker</strong></a> her daughters to see what she called "the civil rights event of our generation," and the girls decided it would be fun to pitch in. "The first thing they said this morning was, 'Is it time to go to the weddings yet?'" she said. &mdash; Pervaiz Shallwani, Alison Fox, and Amber Benham contributed to this article. Write to Andrew Grossman at andrew.grossman@wsj.com