SAN JOSE, Calif. — It was just like any other wedding. They said their "I do's." They kissed. Flower girls in pink graced the backdrop.
Except Saturday's marriage at the magnificent Rotunda building in downtown Oakland joined California's best-known bachelor, Mayor Jerry Brown, and his longtime partner, Anne Gust. It was a first marriage for them both.
"We're very excited," a jovial Brown, 67, said after tying the knot during a ceremony replete with Gregorian chanting, reflecting the mayor's former days as a Jesuit scholar.
"I thought it was a fantastic ceremony," Gust added, looking smashing in an elegant custom-made ivory taffeta dress. Gust, 47, left her job as a Gap executive to help run her husband's campaign for state attorney general in 2006.
Of course, it was no ordinary guest list either. It was a virtual Who's Who of California politics: Sen. Dianne Feinstein presided over the vows, and Brown's sister, former state treasurer Kathleen Brown, was there. Former Gov. Gray Davis, former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, current San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and a smorgasbord of other politicians also attended, shaking hands like it was an old high school reunion.
And though the guests couldn't see, there were nearly two dozen reporters — from CNN to Reuters to the local news outlets — cordoned off on a balcony. They had been invited to take photos and jot down notes from afar, but forbidden to mingle or snack on the sushi circulating on the ground floor.
Cynics wondered aloud if the ceremony was a call for positive media attention as Brown gears up for the election. "It's base and crass to say it's a publicity stunt," said Gil Duran, Brown's press secretary. "They've been together 15 years. This should not shock anyone."
Willie Brown — who knows a thing or two about politics — said he didn't think the marriage was a political stunt.
"Jerry is genuinely in love with Anne," he said. "They're a very good match."
No one denied that the couple is very much in love. During the ceremony, Brown adjusted Gust's hair, pushing it back from her face, drawing chuckles from the crowd of about 500. The two met through mutual friends in 1990, when Brown was chairman of the state Democratic National Party. The couple might be heading into their first tiff, though: Gust said she hasn't yet decided if she'll take Brown's name.
Despite Brown's New Agey nickname when he led the state in the 1970s — "Gov. Moonbeam" — the wedding was quite traditional.
"It's very surprising," Willie Brown said. "This is something the Kennedy clan would have been proud of."
Opera, mandolin music and gospel floated up the six-story building. Flower girls in hot pink and bridal attendants in cream gowns formed a semicircle behind the couple. A ring bearer and a young boy carrying a Bible stood up front. Gust read from the Old Testament's Book of Ruth. Brown read a passage from Matthew in the New Testament.
Then, they kissed. Four times. After greeting guests for about an hour, the couple headed to the balcony to meet with reporters, who had been invited to come document the occasion.
"A press conference at a wedding? I guess I'm setting a new trend," Brown said, deflecting questions on whether his new role as husband will reflect well on his campaign, by answering: "I'm hoping marriage will have an impact, a positive one and long-lasting one."
The couple plans to honeymoon along the Russian River, then in Italy in August.
In the meantime, Brown said, "we've got a little campaigning to do."