Yesterday was the day to be a tux rental store, a caterer or a limo driver in NYC. On the first day of legal same-sex marriage in New York, a total of 659 couples got licenses and 484 got hitched in Manhattan alone. The New York Times says that most of the weddees were New York residents but 107 came from other states where gay marriage is not legal. Mayor Michael Bloomberg presided over the wedding of Jonathan Mintz, 47, and Robert Feinblatt, 60, both Bloomberg staff members. The wedding, which took place at Gracie Mansion, was televised by CNN.

Even the flinty old not-the-marrying-kind sort of person has to be touched by the outpouring desire of couples to publicly declare themselves to one another … but God forbid some people should be kind enough to let others have their day. Of course there were protesters who “rallied in Midtown Manhattan to protest the new law, waving signs that said‘God cannot be mocked’ and calling for a public referendum on same-sex marriage.”

Other people were nice. “Outside marriage bureaus, police officers offered unsolicited congratulations, passers-by honked their horns and strangers tossed hand-made confetti at the newlyweds.”

And some people got entrepreneurial about it, like the videographer who offered a celebratory discount: “$50 for heterosexuals; $30 for gays.”

Ray Durand, who married Dale Shields, the partner he met 42 years ago, summed it up nicely, saying, “We feel a little more human today.”

Here’s Bloomberg, presiding over a historic moment.