Brenda Morris and Eve Alpern of Rosendale, Mass. apply for a marriage license, making them one of over 260 couples to do so.

At the stroke of midnight, Cambridge became the first city in the nation to allow same-sex couples to file for state-sanctioned marriage licenses, throwing a party today at City Hall in the early morning hours complete with a three-tiered wedding cake, live music and over 260 same-sex couples.

Cities across Massachusetts will issue same-sex marriage licenses for the first time today, six months after the state Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) ruled that it is unconstitutional to prevent gay couples from marrying.

Marcia Hams and Susan Shepherd of Cambridge were the first couple to sign the forms declaring their intention to marry after waiting for 24 hours on the steps of City Hall.

“I’m trying not to faint at the moment,” said Hams, 56, after filing the forms. “We just really feel awesome.”

“I think we’ll really understand all this later,” Shepherd, 52, added. “This is not in any way or shape or form about us. All these people have worked to get us here.”

Cameras flashed, gay rights activists cheered and a group of Harvard students organized by the Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender, and Supporters Alliance (BGLTSA) joined the thousands gathered outside to watch as each couple ascended the steps of City Hall last night.

Some holding flowers, others wiping away tears, couples saluted the crowd and raised their clasped hands in triumph.

The couples who file forms today will need to wait three days before receiving their licenses, unless they obtain a waiver of this waiting period in probate court. According to City Clerk E. Margaret Drury, these waivers are “fairly commonly granted.”

Although several members of the Cambridge City Council sought to begin granting marriage licenses immediately after the SJC’s November ruling, the city had to wait until the end of a 180-day court-mandated stay period. But councillors passed an order calling on the city clerk to issue licenses “as soon as legally possible,” which meant opening the offices at midnight on the day the ruling took effect.

“That we are here at this hour shows that you have kept your promise,” Arthur Lipkin of the Cambridge Lavender Alliance told the councillors last night at a ceremony in the packed City Hall chamber, standing next to a clock counting down the minutes until midnight.

Councillor E. Denise Simmons, one of the co-sponsors of the original resolution calling for immediate issuing if licenses, was among those waiting to file for a license early this morning, holding number 89.

“My order has been on the record for six months,” she said in an interview. “This is the realization of it.”

Couples filing for marriage face an uncertain future, as the state legislature voted in March in favor of a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage but establishing civil unions. If the amendment passes another legislative session in 2005-2006, it will be put to a statewide referendum.

But the couples and their supporters last night focused on the positive.

State Sen. Jarrett T. Barrios ’90, a leading advocate of gay rights in the legislature who gave personal testimony against the proposed amendment, said that he and his partner would not be filing the paperwork today but would “wait until the rush dies down.”