MASON, MI -- Glenna DeJong and Marsha Caspar of Lansing, a same-sex couple together for 27 years, were married Saturday morning in Mason around 8 a.m.

They are believed to be the first legally-married gay couple in the state of Michigan.

"We're just one of a long line of states who are realizing that gay people have rights too, the same rights as heterosexuals," DeJong said shortly after marrying her longtime partner in a short, emotional ceremony held in the hallway of the Ingham County Courthouse in Mason.

U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman on Friday struck down the state's constitutional amendment that defined marriage as between one man and one woman.

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed an emergency motion for stay and appeal, but the court has not yet responded to his request. It's unclear what a stay would mean for couples married in the interim.

DeJong noted a similar situation in California, where a judge's ruling was stayed but the marriages performed in the interim remained valid.

"So that's why we didn't want to spend a lot of time planning and we just had to be here in 45 minutes once we found out," she said.

Ingham County Clerk Barb Byrum performed the ceremony. She had not planned to open her office this weekend but said she could not sleep on Friday night. At least three other couples were on hand to get married as well. Byrum planned to keep the office open until 1 p.m.

"So many people have been waiting long enough, and it seemed the more I thought about it, the more absurd it seemed to make them wait until Monday morning," Byrum said.

"It is an honor to join to people together in marriage, and today has taken that honor to a whole new level," she said.

DeJong took a moment to recognize Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, who helped make her marriage possible by suing the state over being prohibited from jointly adopting their three children.

"I guess that this makes me emotional, is that Jayne and April, we owe so much to them as does everybody else here in the state, and hope that we can meet them someday," she said.

When asked how it felt to be the first same-sex couple to be married in Michigan, the couple responded almost in unison, "We had no idea" until it was happening.

"When we drove up I said we have to be at the wrong place, I thought there'd be hundreds of cars here, so we drove around and we came back and said no, this has to be it," DeJong said. "So that was about 20 to 8 I think."

DeJong said she woke up at 6:40 a.m. Saturday morning and saw that Byrum had tweeted a few minutes earlier that she would open the office to perform marriages at 8 a.m. The couple quickly got ready and headed out the door. Caspar wore her favorite sweatshirt with a Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, while DeJong wore a blouse and blazer.

"Marsha said, 'I'm wearing a sweatshirt,' and I said, 'After 27 years I know not to argue,'" DeJong said.

The newlyweds planned to meet friends for breakfast after the ceremony, and then hold a larger celebration in Saugatuck this summer.

In addition to the couples, several people came to witness the weddings, including Cheryl Overley of Delta Township. After seeing the news on Facebook, she and her 16-year-old daughter, Bronwen, picked up two dozen roses and headed to the court house.

"We believe in equality," Cheryl Overley said holding back tears. She said she wanted to "congratulate the couples who have been waiting so long."

East Lansing Mayor Nathan Triplett also was on hand and offered to help in any way, from grabbing coffee to performing ceremonies, if necessary.

"It's a momentous occasion that's long overdue, and I'm very glad to be able to witness it," he said.

Email Melissa Anders at manders@mlive.com. Follow her on Google+ and Twitter: @MelissaDAnders. Download the MLive app for iPhone and Android.