Gay Weddings & The Economy
MALVEAUX: It's a sight that caught our eye. The number of same sex wedding announcements in the "New York Times" this weekend, the increase paints a picture of the new normal in the latest state to allow gay couples to get married. Well, on Sunday, hundreds of same sex couples flooded into New York City's clerk's office to exchange vows and to make history. In all, 764 weddings took place setting a new one-day record for the city and setting a new definition of marriage in New York.</s>MARCOS CHALJUB, NEWLYWED: It's the moment we've been waiting for for years.</s>FREDDY ZAMBRANO, NEWYLWED: A dream come true for us. A dream come true to say this is my husband now, Freddy, as opposed to my boyfriend or my partner.</s>MALVEAUX: All of the wedding bells mean big bucks for the state's economy as well. The bakers, wedding planners, dress makers all raking it in as same sex couples step up to the altar. Maggie Lake has that story.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi. How can I help you?</s>MAGGIE LAKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Barry Ernst and Kevin Phillips have been together for more than 20 years. On Monday, they plan on finally tying the knot, one day after New York state's landmark bill allowing same sex marriages goes into effect. It has been a whirlwind few weeks of planning.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's a simple design there.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's put like some loose calla lilies up there.</s>KEVIN PHILLIPS, PLANNING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: It started with simply saying we should do this. Come on. Let's do it. And then it was, if we're going to do this, we should have a reception. If we're going to have a reception, you need a cake.</s>LAKE: Businesses like City Cakes are bracing for a spike in orders from couples like Barry and Kevin who have been waiting to wed for years.</s>JASPREET SAHOTA, CITY CAKES: It's a new market we'll be able to tap. You know, there's a lot of affluent, same sex couples in the city who are really excited about being able to get married and are looking to order extravagant cakes or flowers or, you know, even booking extravagant venues.</s>LAKE (on camera): The city estimates that over the next three years, the new legislation could bring in more than $700 million to New York City and it's not just small businesses like City Cakes that hope to benefit, but also historic institutions like the Pierre Hotel. (voice-over): Inside a luxury Pierre suite, Nora Walsh walks us through the hotel's tempting package to same sex couples.</s>NORA WALSH, THE PIERRE HOTEL: They have a personalized wedding cake as well as champagne on arrival.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Many of our rooms are actually stainless steel.</s>LAKE: Pent up demand may trigger a summer time surge but at Chelsea gift shop Arcadia, Jay Gurewitsch is planning for a permanent boost to business.</s>JAY GUREWITSCH, ARCADIA: Typically, we would keep in stock anything, about 20 to 30 rings maximum. By the time the summer is over, we'll probably have over a hundred different styles of rings in stock and many more of them will be specifically geared for weddings.</s>BARRY ERNST, PLANNING SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: I think they're going to be surprised at how much more business they're going to have. A couple of the other people that we spoke to about cakes before we decided on City Cakes were just -- when they saw us come in, you could se the almost the dollar signs in their eyes.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be beautiful, guys. You're going to be really happy with it.</s>LAKE: History is being made and New York businesses are hoping for an invitation. Maggie Lake, CNN, New York.</s>MALVEAUX: Not everybody in New York was cheering on Sunday. Thousands rallied with the National Organization for Marriage to protest the weddings.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's not what the Bible says. The Bible says that there is a husband and a wife and that's how we are to bring up our children.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man marrying man, woman marrying woman, we're against that. Not only that we're against it, but God is.</s>MALVEAUX: The march began on Park Avenue outside of the office of Governor Andrew Cuomo who had championed the bill. But, today's talk back question: Should President Obama forget Congress, just raise the debt limit? Christina says, "Yes, he should. Obama has done everything he can to work with the Republicans and all they want to do is get him out of office -- at all cost, even if it comes to bringing the U.S. down." More of your responses up ahead.