Though the same-sex marriage ruling won't take effect for at least a month, county clerks in the Bay Area are gearing up for a surge in marriage-license requests.

And one clerk plans to be the first in his own line of applicants.

"I know of one applicant for certain — me!" said Steve Weir, clerk for Contra Costa County. "I have always told people I would be the first in line if same-sex marriage ever became legal.

"Of course we never thought it would be, and now — oh my gosh — it's a little scary to think of really doing it. My partner and I have been together 19 years. We've got the china, we even bought the dudes for the top of the cake a few years ago. So we'll have to dust them off."

Contra Costa issues about 4,000 marriage licenses a year and performs about 1,200 ceremonies. Weir said only minor wording changes to the generic service would be required.

"But the application form and the wording in the license itself will probably be changed eventually," he said. "That's something the state would do. It's a state form. Instead of 'bride's name' and 'groom's name,' it might be 'spouse one and spouse two.' "

Alameda County is also preparing for an onslaught of license requests.

"We expect a lot. I think we'll be flooded," said Patrick O'Connell, clerk/recorder for Alameda County. "People have called wanting to come in and get married today. We've told them we're still waiting for the state to

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declare the law in effect, so they'll have to wait, which must be very frustrating for them.

"And even though things could still go either way if the issue is on the ballot in November, I imagine we'll have lots of people in the meantime who want to get married while they can."

To prepare, O'Connell's office is planning to go with its strategy on Valentine's Day and at Christmas, when it often performs up to 60 or 70 weddings in a day.

"We're toying with the idea of sending out press releases and setting it up so people can call in and schedule appointments in advance for weddings, like we do in popular seasons," O'Connell said. "Then we'd be able to determine how many extra marriage commissioners we would need on any given day. We'll probably need to add several in the first few weeks. It would help us with planning."

Solano County Clerk Chuck Lomeli is also making preparations.

"We're actually getting ready to go ahead in 30 days and take action at that time," Lomeli said. "I want to have all of my people trained through our human resources department as far as the dos and don'ts of how this should go. Things like how to be sensitive and appropriate. They all need to be aware that there is no difference in our eyes for anyone coming in for a license. We're simply an agent of the state fulfilling the laws of the land."

"The question still remains as to when this becomes legal, and if it will remain legal," Weir said. "But we need to be prepared. We don't want to embarrass anybody or create any problems by going about it in the wrong way."

Weir and his partner are excited to think about finally setting a date. "Our anniversary of being together as a couple is Sept. 30. So that would be a good date to make it official," he said. "We just hope it'll stay that way."