They were exhilarated and exhausted.

Weddings will do that to a couple.

Now take all that energy and multiply it by eight. That’s the number of couples who were married Sunday morning at the Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad-Cities.

“It’s a big day,” said one. “It feels right,” said another.

The most distinctive thing about these marriages is that they were between same-sex couples. More than 130 family and friends witnessed the vows between four male couples and four female couples, possibly the first multiple wedding involving same-sex couples since gays and lesbians could legally apply for marriage licenses since last Monday.

Four of the couples are from Davenport, three from Rock Island and one from East Moline. Illinois doesn’t recognize same-sex marriages.

“I work in Iowa, we’re in Iowa all the time, so it feels like home to us,” said Curtis Harris of Rock Island. “This makes it legal in everyone else’s eyes. To us, it’s always been legal.”

Harris and Daren Adkisson have been together for three and a half years. When asked what a marriage gives them that a civil union doesn’t, Harris said, “I can have a say-so in Daren’s cancer (treatment), and I can have a say-so in who’s going to be there and who’s taking care of him. Whereas with a civil union, his parents could step in and take over.”

Adkisson has stage-three cancer.

Former foster mom Connie Carroll-Spurgeon said that now, since she’s essentially childless, it was time to focus on her own happiness.

“My life isn’t going to change except for growing and getting better,” she said, referring to her partner Pat Spurgeon-Carroll.

As for their marriage being a threat to traditional values, Carroll-Spurgeon said, “Oh, I just say, ‘Give it some time. It’ll be OK. You’ll get use to it.’”

Pat Spurgeon-Carroll said they had heard nothing but “positive” as they shopped and prepared for Sunday, “but the fact that the benefits come with it, it’s something that every American should have. Our emotions today are the same as everyone else’s on their wedding day.”

She said that over the years they’ve been looked down on and feared, but added, “We’re not a threat, we don’t want to be around anybody who doesn’t want to be around us.”

The criticisms about such unions weren’t heard because “love” was the theme of the day. The church’s minister, the Rev. Rich Hendricks, said later, “The Bible never addresses same-gender relationships as we know them today. It does address cultic worship.” He said references in the Bible to Sodom and Gomorrah really refer to “inhospitality,” not to some sexual reference.

Spurgeon-Carroll said, “I think we’re maturing emotionally as a country. I think people realize we’re not out to recruit somebody to be something that they’re not. It will be extra special when this isn’t a media event anymore.”

Rohn Rich agrees, hoping it won’t matter except to the immediate families and prays “that it becomes as integrated to mainstream society as opposite-gender couples.”