ATLANTA – Not long after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on gay marriage in 14 states – including Georgia – weddings commenced in the state’s capital city.

Fulton County officials started issuing marriage licenses soon after the court handed down one of its most anticipated opinions in years.

Georgia’s first same-sex marriage license is believed to have been issued here Friday morning to Emma Foulkes and Petrina Bloodworth. 

Later gay and lesbian couples exchanged vows before a large crowd inside the county’s Assembly Hall. Local judges lined up to participate in the historic occasion.

The ceremonies had the usual buoyant participants of any marriage, but each union was followed with rowdy applause from supporters and punctuated by comments from county officials about the magnitude of the day.

To be sure, not many wedding ceremonies begin with the officiant reading from a Supreme Court decision, as Superior Court Judge Jackson Bedford did Friday. 

“They ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law. The Constitution grants them that right.”

More than a dozen couples were eager to exercise that right in Fulton County.

“Absolutely,” said Jerry Hill as he recited vows with Boyd Beckwith during a mass ceremony in Atlanta.

For Mandy and Carol Campbell, the day held a different meaning. The Atlanta couple married in New York last spring so they could at least access some legal protections as they started a family.

Friday’s ruling now requires Georgia to acknowledge their union. 

A handful of couples who previously wed elsewhere – including the Campbells – attended Friday’s celebration and were publicly recognized.

“You have pursued liberties that were not previously available to you here in Georgia,” said State Court Judge Jane Morrison, who is gay. “Now you are home here in Georgia.”

Excitement was not universally shared, however, in a state that passed a same-sex marriage ban with 76 percent of the vote just a decade ago.

“While I believe that this issue should be decided by the states and by legislatures, not the federal judiciary, I also believe in the rule of law,” said Gov. Nathan Deal in a statement. “The state of Georgia is subject to the laws of the United States, and we will follow them.”

Likewise, Attorney General Sam Olens’ office reviewed the Supreme Court’s opinion and advised local officials across the state that they must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples – exactly the same way they license opposite-sex marriages.

The first day of same-sex marriages in Georgia appeared to go smoothly enough. The unions happened throughout the state. 

Chase Daughtrey, probate judge in Cook County and past president of the state’s Council of Probate Court Judges, said he knew of no official who’d denied a license Friday or who would step down because of the ruling. 

But Tanya Washington, a law professor at Georgia State University, said she would not be surprised if enforcement is required in places where probate judges might refuse to issue a license on religious grounds.

Washington was a contributing author to a brief in the case considered by the Supreme Court, Obergefell v. Hodges. Justice Anthony Kennedy cited the brief in the court’s majority opinion.

Washington and her colleagues had focused on the impact that legalizing same-sex marriage would have on children, whom she said are often overlooked in debates on the subject.

“It’s going to have real, immediate, practical effects,” she said. “People won’t have to walk around with a box of documents to secure their parental rights. They can just say, ‘I’m the child’s mother or father,’ like the rest of us do, and that’s a real meaningful benefit, especially for children.”

Jill Nolin covers the Georgia Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.