California Sees No Rush Of Gay-Wedding Bookings

As California prepares to lift its ban on same-sex marriages, hotel proprietors like Cosette Trautman-Scheiber are wondering where all the matrimony-minded gay couples are.

California's Supreme Court ruled May 15 that the state's ban on gay marriage violated its constitution, paving the way for such marriages to begin June 17. Yet Ms. Trautman-Scheiber, who owns the Hope Merrill House bed and breakfast in the Sonoma wine country, is puzzled that she hasn't received any inquiries about her new elopement and honeymoon packages targeted at gay couples.

Other hotel chains, small inns and wedding venues also report a surprisingly small number of gay-wedding reservations. San Francisco, which many expect to be ground zero for gay marriages, hasn't seen a deluge of hotel or travel bookings, says a spokeswoman for the San Francisco Convention & Visitors Bureau.

One reason: Some gay couples appear to be proceeding cautiously because they are worried about challenges to the high-court ruling, says David Paisley, a consultant to the hotel and travel industry on gay and lesbian market research. "If the window [for gay marriage] opens, hopefully it opens forever," says Mr. Paisley. "So there's no urgency right now."