The 38th Annual Pride Parade: Here Come The Brides –And Grooms.

 
They were everywhere. On giant wedding cake floats. Handing out ‘just married’ Hershey’s kisses. Waving signs and banners. Passing out stickers. San Francisco’s 38th Annual Gay Pride Festival and Parade was one ginormous wedding party — one that (thankfully) also happens to be big business for the city that deserves a boost after all its done to make these marriages a reality.

Tourism officials predicted huge crowds for the weekend — and they got them. Many hotels were sold out, including the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero where we stayed. My daughter and I came to march with my dear childhood friend — the soon-to-be California State Senator, Mark Leno, who is the author of the marriage equality bills approved by the Assembly and Senate in 2005 and 2007. Mark is one of those guys you just know is going to grow up and do something amazingly important– and he has.

SFGate reports that “with 259 marriage license appointments and 284 reservations for wedding ceremonies scheduled at the San Francisco county clerk’s office, Friday was on pace to be the city’s busiest day for weddings since gay marriage became legal earlier this month. There were 202 license appointments and 115 weddings performed on June 17, the first full day that gay and lesbian couples could get married in California.”

The wedding pavilion across from City Hall was swarming with brides, grooms and revelers when we were there. Nearby booths for hotels and resorts were handing out brochures and hawking special honeymoon deals for the newly married.

A recent UCLA study reinforces the good news, projecting the possible economic impact over the next three years :

• Total outlay for same-sex weddings by California residents and nonresidents:    $692 million
• Spending by California couples on their weddings. Assumes 51,319 couples (half of existing committed same-sex couples) will choose to marry, and estimates they will spend $7,645 per wedding:  $392 million
• Spending on weddings and tourism by 67,513 out-of-state couples. Assumes each couple spends an average of $2,962 on the wedding and $1,351 on hotel and food: $291 million
• License fees for 118,832 couples, assuming an average of $73.50 for fees: $9 million.

Beyond warming San Francisco’s coffers, today’s joyful parade warmed half a million hearts. The pictures below say it all.
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Pictures courtesy of Katie Carroll.