Fighting back tears with as many tissues as they could grab, gay and lesbian couples in several counties Saturday arrived at a moment in their lives they never thought would come � their wedding day in Michigan. 
 
 Glenna DeJong of Lansing woke up Saturday morning not expecting to marry her partner of 27 years, Marsha Caspar, until Monday, when the Ingham County�s clerk initially planned to begin marrying gay couples. Then at 6:40 a.m. Saturday, she saw a Twitter announcement from county clerk Barb Byrum announcing she would begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples at 8 a.m. 
 
 �I�ve never seen her get up so fast, especially on a weekend,� DeJong said of Caspar. �We couldn�t wait and plan. We just had to act.� 
 
 Just after 8 a.m. Saturday morning, DeJong and Caspar became the first same-sex couple in Michigan to be married following a federal judge�s ruling striking down the state�s 2004 voter-approved ban on gay marriage. 
 
 �That was devastating,� DeJong said of the 2004 ban. �To be on the other side of history right now is joyous.� 
 
 Their marriage came a day after the state�s ban on gay marriage was scratched from the state constitution by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman, prompting couples to flood some county clerks� offices, including Ingham, Muskegon, Oakland and Washtenaw, on Saturday. Many clerks who handle marriage licenses in Michigan�s 83 counties said they would start granting them to gays and lesbians, with some starting Saturday morning. 
 
 In total, those four Michigan counties issued 323 licenses on Saturday and performed dozens of ceremonies before most clerks closed offices at 1 p.m. and before the U.S. Appeals Court for the Sixth Circuit on Saturday issued a temporary stay while directing the attorneys for the same sex couple who had sought to get married to respond to Schuette's request for an emergency stay by noon Tuesday. 
 
 In the first hour of being open, Byrum married three same-sex couples. In all Saturday, she issued 57 licenses and performed 30 ceremonies. 
 
 With the 2004 gay marriage ban struck down, Byrum said there�s no law preventing her from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, even though it was not done prior to 2004. 
 
 Late Friday night, Byrum said she would not open her office until Monday morning to begin marrying gay couples. But she changed her mind overnight and was able to get her employees to come in. 
 
 Byrum said she wanted to make marriage licenses available Saturday just in case the judge halted his decision over the weekend. Attorney General Bill Schuette also is working to get the ruling stayed in an effort to stop the marriages until he can exhaust all appeals in the federal court system. 
 
 �People have been waiting way too long already,� said Byrum, a former Democratic state representative from Onondaga. �It just made me sick that they would be waiting until Monday.� 
 
 But Saturday�s developments weren�t celebrated by all. 
 
 �This is where the Christians at some point will look back and say we should have taken a stand,� said Christine Weick, a Hopkins resident who protested every day outside the federal courthouse in Detroit during the trial over a lawsuit filed by Hazel Park nurses April DeBoer, 42, and Jayne Rowse, 49, who are living as a couple, raising three special-needs children they adopted as individuals. That case prompted Saturday�s developments. 
 
 �We�ve become complacent with God�s word. As we allow this sin to continue, it will creep into the church,� Weick said. 
 
 Couples say 'I do' 
 
 In Pontiac on Saturday, they were passing out happiness at the Oakland County Clerk's Office in the form of marriage license applications for same-sex partners wanting to get legally hitched. 
 
 In the first half hour of opening doors, 235 smiling, happy people had passed through the county turnstiles leading to the clerk's office. As of 11 a.m., there was still a steady stream of new arrivals, some with paperwork, others eager to just witness the legal marriage of friends and relatives. In total, 142 marriage licenses were issued in Oakland County on Saturday. 
 
 Some such as James Ryder, 48, and Frank Colasonti, Jr., 61, of Birmingham had lined up as early as 6 a.m., hoping to be the first to process their marriage application, to be wed and have it certified Saturday. And they were, shortly after 9 a.m. 
 
 In a tearful ceremony officiated by Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown, the two men � who met in church over 26 years ago � wiped back tears with tissues and sealed their marriage with a kiss in a small conference room decorated with a simple vase of flowers and a singular heart-shaped balloon. The pair then walked out, hand-in-hand, into the hallway where they were greeted by loud applause and well-wishes of others waiting to process their paperwork. 
 
 "We thought about going to another country, or another state (to get married) but wanted to marry here," Colosanti said. 
 
 Brown, who also fought back tears, said her clerk�s office was handling paperwork until 1 p.m. Saturday and planned to "officiate for as many as want me to," gesturing to the line snaking down the hallway. 
 
 Oakland County Sheriff's deputies and security officers described the crowd as well-behaved. Many in line filled out their paperwork on clipboards while chatting with new friends and old. Many couples snapped photographs of each other and also of other couples in line. Several held flowers and shouted congratulations to those finalizing their applications. 
 
 Just after 9 a.m. in Ingham County, Byrum performed a brief marriage ceremony in the basement hallway of the Ingham County Courthouse for Jennifer Norman, 30, and Denise Herrera, 41, of Lansing. 
 
 The lesbian couple was joined by a half-dozen family members, who wouldn�t have been able to attend the ceremony had it been held on Monday, Norman said. 
 
 Norman said they were overjoyed by Friedman�s decision to strike down the decade-old constitutional amendment restricting marriage between men and women. 
 
 �It means we don�t have to take off and (get married) in another state,� Norman said. �We were going to do it this year whether Michigan allowed it or not.� 
 
 In West Michigan, a Unitarian Universalist church in Muskegon issued 50 wedding licenses Saturday. They started a couple of hours earlier than planned out of concern the appeals court would approve Schuette�s request for a stay. 
 
 �We�re trying to beat Bill Schuette to the punch,� said Harbor Unitarian Universalist Congregation Pastor Bill Freeman, who officiated at least eight or nine weddings. �We want to get these weddings done while they�re legal.� 
 
 The church planned to continue holding ceremonies throughout the afternoon Saturday. 
 
 Meanwhile, couples began lining up at the Washtenaw County clerk�s office in Ann Arbor at 5:30 a.m. for a chance to get marriage licenses. More than 100 couples showed up to be married, prompting the county to issue 74 licenses Saturday. 
 
 When the office opened at 9 a.m., the crowd rushed inside and numbers were called. Many family and friends held banners and gave flowers as they cried happy tears. Because of the late hour of the judge�s decision on Friday, and the even later hour that the clerk decided to open on Saturday, many families didn�t have time to gather for the ceremonies. 
 
 �It�s probably not the wedding a lot of people dreamed of, but I�ll take it,� said Wendy Rothman, who waited as her sister, Diane Van Dorn, and her sister�s partner of 17 years, Connie Greer, got their marriage license alongside their three young children. 
 
 �It�s an incredible moment in history. This will change our lives, their children�s lives and society.� 
 
 After receiving the marriage licenses from the clerk, many couples chose to go to the basement where numerous officials had turned out to marry people on the spot. 
 
 Martin Contreras and Keith Orr, owners of the \aut\ Bar in Ann Arbor and partners for 27 years, were among the first to receive a marriage license. Immediately after signing the paperwork, they went downstairs in the clerk�s office to have the ceremony. 
 
 The two held hands as the officiant blessed them and their marriage. 
 
 �I never thought it would happen in my lifetime,� said Contreras, after he and Orr kissed through tears. �It�s indescribable. I never expected we could get this far.� 
 
 Ann Arbor residents Amy McLoughlin, 41, and Callie McKee, 35, tried to get married the last time the window opened briefly. 
 
 "We were here in October, and got a number," said McLoughlin, producing a ticket with "14" on it. "So we're back today." 
 
 The pair, who've been together "6.75 years," in McLouglin's words, had hoped against hope this day would come, but weren't sure it would. "We were hopeful, but didn't think it would come this soon," McLoughlin said. 
 
 "We got a lot of discouraging messages from the state," McKee added. "It seemed even if people were behind gay marriage, the government wasn't." 
 
 Worth the wait 
 
 In Ferndale on Saturday morning, hugs and pats on the back marked the first day of legalized gay marriage in Michigan. 
 
 Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter was on hand to marry gay and lesbian couples once they received their marriage licenses from a clerk. 
 
 �We�re normally not open on Saturday,� said a smiling Coulter as he greeted Ferndale residents in the cafe at the Affirmations LGBT advocacy center. Coulter said the idea to officiate over a marriage ceremony was planned after getting tons of calls from well-wishers following Friday�s ruling by Friedman. 
 
 �Some of these couples waited for many years to get married,� said Coulter on Saturday. �I wanted to be able to honor this commitment and assist them.� 
 
 Coulter said he was watching developments closely in case there was an emergency stay on Friedman�s ruling. 
 
 Southfield City Councilman Ken Siver married his longtime beau, Zack Ismai, 40. Siver, 68, carried flowers and the couple traded rings in the brief ceremony witnessed by a small group of about 40 onlookers gathered to watch same-sex couples exchange vows at the Affirmations LGBT advocacy center on Nine Mile Road. 
 
 Coulter said a Native American prayer as he joined Siver and Ismail in marriage. 
 
 �It�s really just a matter of equality,� said Siver on Saturday, following the brief civil ceremony after he was legally married. �We�re all just people and love is a beautiful thing and something that is to be celebrated.� 
 
 Ismail said he was happy the day came when he and Siver could be legally married. 
 
 �It�s one of the happiest days,� said Ismail, a trauma nurse who also is studying nursing anesthesiology. �I�m glad we�re legal.� 
 
 Shortly after Siver and Ismail said their vows, Brent Gonzalez, a transgender male, and Jessica Holmes, both 29, said their �I dos.� 
 
 �We�re happy about the new law,� said Holmes, following the quick ceremony. 
 
 The Royal Oak couple said they were surprised the ban was lifted. 
 
 �I thought we (the state of Michigan) would be one of the last,� Gonzalez said. ||||| Gay Michigan couples' wedding-day joy turns to uncertainty when state halts same-sex marriages 
 
 Michigan's first gay marriage was performed shortly after 8 a.m. today by Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum at the historic courthouse in Mason. Glenna DeJong, 53, and Marsha Caspar, 52, both of 
 
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– Gay couples in Michigan wasted little time taking advantage of yesterday's court ruling that cleared the way for same-sex marriages in the state. The honors for Michigan's first went to Glenna DeJong, 53, and Marsha Caspar, 52, a Lansing couple who were wed just after 8am by the county clerk in Ingham County, reports the Detroit Free Press. County clerks elsewhere in the state also opened their doors on the weekend for the occasion. "To be on the other side of history right now is joyous," DeJong tells the Detroit News. It's possible that all those who get married today will end up in a legal limbo familiar to gay couples in other states. Michigan's attorney general has asked the 6th Circuit Court to stay yesterday's decision by Judge Bernard Friedman that the state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. If the court agrees, the ban would once again be in effect as the case winds through the appeals process. But for the moment, at least, Michigan is the 18th state to legalize gay weddings.