BOSTON -- On a bright, historic morning yesterday at the edge of Boston Common, the wedding of Robert Compton and David Wilson had all the trappings of a traditional ceremony.

Moved by the playing of "Morning has Broken," friends cried as the couple walked down the aisle toward a minister waiting with rings beneath the soaring Corinthian columns of Arlington Street Church. Brunch was being prepared at the nearby Four Seasons Hotel.

But for Compton and Wilson, one of seven same-sex couples who successfully sued the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the right to marry, the moment transcended their own vows.

As the Boston couple greeted friends on the steps of the Unitarian Universalist church after the ceremony, Compton pronounced it a "great moment for equality and liberty throughout our Commonwealth and our whole country."

Mobbed by cameras, Wilson said: "It's going to help so many families across the country. I see our families coming out and being more involved with soccer, the PTO, churches. I think it's an opportunity for so many of the mainstream community to see who we are."

The Compton-Wilson wedding, which began with a reading from the November 2003 landmark ruling of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court granting gays the right to marry, was one of dozens of same-sex weddings taking place across Massachusetts yesterday.

More than 1,000 couples applied for licenses across the state yesterday, the Boston Globe reported. The Globe also said a survey it conducted showed that lesbians accounted for two-thirds of the couples seeking licenses and that the median age of applicants was 43.

Massachusetts law provides for a three-day waiting period before couples can marry after receiving a license, which first became available to gay couples yesterday morning. But many couples, having waited years, could wait no longer.

Some began lining up for licenses in Cambridge a full day before the city clerk opened the doors at 12:01 a.m., and then killed time until the courts opened so they could persuade judges to waive the waiting period. For the record, the first same-sex couple to get legally married appears to have been Tanya McCloskey, 52, and Marcia Kadish, 56, who were wed by 9:15 a.m.

For many of the couples, there was a breathlessness about taking part in a moment of history that many never expected to come. In Cambridge Sunday night, they were surrounded by more than 1,500 well-wishers who spread across the lawn at City Hall blowing bubbles, throwing rice and erupting into cheers as each couple headed out of the building -- official paperwork in hand -- some tossing their bouquets of lilacs and pink roses into the crowd, others pausing for a kiss in front of the TV cameras.

In Boston yesterday morning, partners, including three of the original plaintiff couples in the Massachusetts lawsuit, streamed through a receiving line of rainbow flags.

"I feel like we now have a legitimate family relationship," said Hillary Goodridge, the lead plaintiff, as she left City Hall with her partner, Julie Goodridge. "It feels safe and secure."

But many couples said the excitement was accompanied by a sense of urgency because their new civil right could be snatched away. Massachusetts lawmakers already have taken the first step in passing an amendment to the state Constitution that would ban gay marriage. To take effect, it must be approved by the Legislature again next year and by Massachusetts voters in 2006.

On Friday, opponents of same-sex marriage asked both a U.S. federal appeals court and the U.S. Supreme Court to stop yesterday's marriages, citing pending litigation. Both attempts failed, but the appeals court will consider the case next month.

"We were worried about that possible constitutional amendment," said Steven C. Goodness, a 34-year old Army veteran from Dorchester who lined up in Cambridge for a marriage licence with his partner, Jerry D. Buxton. "We wanted to get this done: get married -- and whatever they do after that, it doesn't matter."

"It didn't make any sense to have a civil union or a commitment ceremony; we were already committed to each other," Goodness said. "I wanted a wedding; it was the only step left to our relationship."

Pete Gaioni, 39, and Rick Legge, 50, of Jamaica Plain, a Boston suburb, arrived at Boston City Hall early yesterday morning after having the doors closed on them once before when they got to San Francisco after the courts had ordered the city to stop issuing licenses.

Liz A. Tompkins and Dee A. Campbell, of Malden, said they decided to get a marriage license this week for practical reasons. Before they were married, Campbell couldn't claim Tompkins, who stays home with their two daughters, as the beneficiary of her retirement benefits or have her covered by her employer's health insurance plan. So they plan to marry next month in what will be their third commitment ceremony.

"That time frame really was a little scary," Campbell said Sunday night.

"I never thought I'd live to see this day," said Tompkins. "So I'm not going to wait around and worry about it passing by."

There were few protesters at the Cambridge celebration or in Boston yesterday. Many of the groups opposed to gay marriage said they intended to focus on the continuing battles in the courts, in Congress and in state legislatures.

A group known as the Article 8 Alliance of nearby Waltham protested what they consider overreaching by the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court. Several Catholic protestors appeared outside of Boston City Hall holding rosaries and singing hymns, but Mary Anne Letourneau of New Bedford, south of Boston, said their presence was a "prayer assembly to bear witness to natural law" and the sanctity of traditional marriage.

"The [marriages] are just one further step in the direction we've already been going," said Letourneau, a 49-year old homemaker, who said they will lead to confusion. "Children are even learning in school now that homosexual behavior is natural. The worst effect is on the children. Some won't have a father, and some won't have a mother, and that will be seen as O.K."

Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley of the Catholic Diocese of Boston, said disagreement over gay marriages should not "lead us into anger against or vilification of any group of people, especially our homosexual sisters and brothers."

The Massachusetts Family Institute and other groups aligned with the Coalition for Marriage said they would intensify their push for constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriage in both the state and U.S. constitutions and in electing like-minded public officials in November. But they chose not to join any protests yesterday.

"Let them have their day, I really believe that," said Raymond F. McNulty, the institute's spokesman. "Our activities and energies are focused on the next chapter."