Three years ago, Laura and Ilana Acevedo married in an intimate Christmas Eve ceremony attended by just a few close friends.
Three years ago, Laura and Ilana Acevedo married in an intimate Christmas Eve ceremony attended by just a few close friends.
The Hilo couple were together for years. They lived together, exchanged rings and made what they called “a proposal for a proposal.” Ultimately, however, they were waiting for same-sex marriage to become legal in Hawaii.
“I didn’t want a domestic partnership or a civil union,” Ilana Acevedo said Friday during an interview at Oasis Cafe, her Downtown Hilo restaurant. “That’s ridiculous.”
So, when lawmakers enacted the Hawaii Marriage Equality Act — legalizing same-sex marriage starting Dec. 2, 2013 — the Acevedos were among the first 85 same-sex couples on Hawaii Island that month to tie the knot. Those couples accounted for 32 percent of marriage licenses issued islandwide in December 2013 and about 16 percent of the first 533 same-sex unions statewide, according to data provided by the state Department of Health.
Since then, however, numbers have leveled off.
In 2014, 328 same-sex couples were married on Hawaii Island, averaging 27 marriages per month. That number dropped to 212 in 2015 — or about 18 per month. As of Thursday, that number for 2016 was 143, averaging about 13 same-sex marriages per month.
In all, 768 same-sex couples have married on the island since the marriage equality act took effect. That’s about 12 percent of same-sex unions statewide and about 10 percent of all marriages on the island.
“When it became legal, there was quite a flurry, initially,” said Carolee Higashino, owner of Purple Orchid Wedding, part of a company that plans weddings for about 400 couples statewide each year. “Since then, we’ve had a steady amount, but not as outrageously busy as I thought it might have been.”
“I think there was a big rush of people who’d been together for decades and waiting to get married,” Ilana Acevedo added. “Now, it’s just like everybody else. Some will (get married), and some won’t.”
Same-sex marriage is legal nationally, following a 2015 Supreme Court ruling.
Higashino said about 10 percent of the company’s ceremonies each year involve same-sex couples. Hawaii Island is particularly popular, she added, which she attributes to the isle’s high number of LGBT-friendly promotions and vacation rentals.
“I’d say about 20 percent of weddings are on the Big Island,” she said. “We do a lot there.”
Most same-sex couples have opted for small ceremonies, Higashino said, and the vast majority are out-of-state couples.
Statewide, 68 percent of same-sex marriage licenses issued have involved a couple in which one or both members were nonresidents. That number is 65 percent among all marriages.
It’s difficult to gauge how much money same-sex unions have added to the island’s economy. In 2013, University of Hawaii economics professor Sumner La Croix predicted additional visitor spending as a result of marriage equality could total $217 million during the 2014-16 period.
If every same-sex couple married in Hawaii to date spent $34,835 — the average price of a Hawaii wedding in 2015, according to wedding statistics website weddingreport.com — same-sex weddings could have contributed more than $26 million to the state’s economy since they were legalized.
The Acevedos didn’t spend that much. Their wedding festivities cost about $5,000, which included a separate, large-scale celebration several months later for friends and family.
“On a personal level, our bond really deepened (after getting married),” Ilana Acevedo said. “… And we don’t have to say girlfriend, or partner anymore, where (there’s a question of) what kind of partner? A business partner? It makes it easier for everybody to know who we are. I find it puts more people at ease than not at ease to know that we’re married.”
Email Kirsten Johnson at kjohnson@hawaiitribune-herald.com.