Stuff.co 20 Sept 2013
It might not be the flood of bookings some may have expected, but gay and lesbian couples are taking New Zealand up on its offer to legally bind them in marriage.
Eighty-two same-sex couples have married since the Marriage Amendment Act came into force on August 19 – more than a quarter from overseas – and just under half made the change from a civil union.
Births, Deaths and Marriages registrar-general Jeff Montgomery said the office expected the number of applications for same-sex marriage to increase in spring.
Marriage celebrant Helen White said she had three weddings booked in for the coming months, including a couple who wanted to celebrate their 50th anniversary together by tying the knot, but she had not had a rush of inquiries.
“I think it will probably be about as many booked as civil unions, nobody has been rushing me off my feet . . . I was expecting more, really.”
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/9187779/Foreign-couples-leap-at-chance-for-same-sex-vows
