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For same-sex couples in Central Florida, the opportunity to get married in Florida seemed like an impossible dream with the passage of a state constitutional amendment that banned gay marriage and civil unions in 2008.

Now, with a federal court ruling overturning that amendment, couples are planning to exchange vows starting Jan. 6.

Reno Deschaine and Gary Jilek

Reno Deschaine and Gary Jilek don't believe in wasting time. As soon as a judge opened the way for same-sex marriage in Florida, they wanted to be married.

Behind their sense of urgency has been the doubt fueled by Florida's prolonged legal battle over the issue.

Jilek even urged his family in Wisconsin, where gay marriage is legal, to hold off plans to attend their wedding ceremony at Orlando City Hall on Jan. 6.

"It's frustrating because my family wants to make plans, and I'm telling them, 'Don't schedule anything for the sixth because I can't tell you that it's actually going to happen,'" said Jilek, 47, a business analyst.

But once they are married, the couple plan to host a reception at a later date for their friends and family at their high-rise condo in downtown Orlando.

"We'll have it as a celebration of our marriage, but also to celebrate our family and friends who have stuck by us and supported us this whole time," said Deschaine, a global-operations director for a Maitland company who has been with Jilek for 18 years.

Deschaine, 43, and Jilek met in Milwaukee and moved to Orlando together. They believe they'll be participating in a historic moment for equal rights by being wed on the first day that gay marriage is legal in Florida.

"It's about equality and no longer being made to feel like a second-class citizen," Deschaine said. "At the end of the day, everyone should have the same protections and guarantees from the government and the Constitution."

Tammie Kaufman and Kimberly Jackson

They've been partners for nearly 10 years, and Tammie Kaufman figured that was how it would always be: an unmarried couple for the rest of their lives.

"I was saying we'd be in our walkers before it [same-sex marriage] happened in Florida," Kaufman said.

Now they are planning their wedding: a small ceremony in the home of their best friends.

"I didn't think it would come so quickly," said Kaufman, 45, an associate professor at the University of Central Florida.

They've set the date for Jan. 17 when a friend from Virginia comes to town. They are not in a hurry to get married or afraid the window of opportunity might close as quickly as it opened. Their relationship, after a decade, is stable and secure.

Being married means Jackson, 44, who has Type 1 diabetes and multiple sclerosis, would now be on Kaufman's health insurance.

"It's for security," Kaufman said. "There are so many rights you get by being married."

But even more than that, it would give their relationship a legal status that was never possible before as registered domestic partners.

"You can say I've been together with someone for 10 years," Kaufman said, "but when you say you're married, it's saying you are really in it for keeps."

Besides that, Jackson said, if it's now legal for same-sex couples to get married in the state of Florida, why wouldn't they get married?

"Getting married to me means I get to be with her for a long time in the eyes of the law," said Jackson, "It's saying it's OK for us to be together and so, damn it, we're going to be together."

Thomas Lawson and Michael Scott

Thomas Lawson and Michael Scott have big wedding plans: 150 guests, a four-tiered wedding cake, a DJ and dancing, filet mignon and a candy buffet coordinated to match the colors of the grooms' wedding tuxedos. They've reserved two ballrooms at the Hyatt Regency Orlando and hired a wedding planner, John Michael Weddings, who is billing the event as the first gay marriage with full reception in Orlando.

Friends and relatives are flying in from all over the country.

It's an all-out, full-blown wedding for two guys who met a year and a half ago and became engaged in October. And it's happening faster than they expected.

"We thought we had a year to plan the wedding," said Lawson, 27, a supervisor with a local nonprofit. "But I like the idea that we are making this very personal occasion part of something that is historic for our community and our state."

At the time of their engagement, Lawson and Scott were determined to have a wedding ceremony even if same-sex marriage was not legal in Florida. But when a federal judge opened the door for legalized gay marriage in Florida, the couple fast-tracked their wedding plans.

There have been hitches and lawsuits and legal opinions and other ups and downs along the way, but the couple have been too busy planning their wedding to pay much attention.

All they know is their dream wedding is becoming a dream come true — regardless of whether their marriage is legal now, later or never.

"We knew we were going to make this commitment to each other. Let's not put it off. Let's just do it," said Scott, 27, a retail manager.

Amy Barnard and Kelly Brown

Amy Barnard and Kelly Brown, who have been together for eight years, plan to drive from their St. Petersburg home to get married in the mass ceremony planned by Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer.

"The second we can make this happen, no matter where we have to drive, we want to do it immediately," said Barnard, 44, a certified nurse's assistant who works with hospice patients. "Then we will come home and plan our beach wedding where we can include our family and friends."

Participating in a marriage ceremony with other gay couples will make the occasion more memorable than standing together before a justice of the peace, Barnard said.

"We thought it would be even more amazing to participate in a mass service where everyone feels the same, everyone's in love, and you're with a bunch of happy people," she said.

The couple, who have been engaged since 2008, said they thought of getting married in another state where same-sex marriage is legal, but knew the rights and benefits of a marriage license elsewhere would be invalid in Florida.

"We just thought that's a lot of ho-ha to come home and not be recognized [as a married couple]," Barnard said. "It's been such a long time that we've wanted to be each other's wife. It means so much to us to get the same respect and benefits that other couple's take for granted."

Brown, a 43-year-old restaurant manager, said she has spent her life waiting for this moment of equality to arrive.

"This means everything to me. I know I was born gay, and it's always been a struggle to get the same rights as everyone else," she said.

There are many rights, large and small, that bind a married couple together in ways not possible to unmarried partners.

"I would love to have my drivers license to have her last name on it. I would be covered on her insurance. We could buy a home together," Barnard said. "We just want to be connected to each other in every way possible."

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