For Robin Tyler and Diane Olson, the next Valentine's Day will come early - Monday evening when they become one of the first two same-sex couples to legally marry in California.

"We've waited a long time for this, and it really won't matter if we're the first or just one of the first," Olson said. "We're just on cloud nine that we can marry."

The two North Hills women, who have been partners for 15 years, were original plaintiffs in the historic lawsuit that revolutionized California's nuptial laws when the state Supreme Court ruled last month that the ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional.

When they exchange vows at 5:01p.m. Monday before a rabbi in front of the Beverly Hills courthouse, they will return to where, for the past eight Valentine's Days, they have attempted to get a marriage license - and each time have been turned down at the Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's Office window.

Acting Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan announced Thursday he would issue an early marriage license to Tyler and Olson "in recognition of their unique role in the court's decision."

Similar arrangements were made in San Francisco to allow Mayor Gavin Newsom to officiate at the marriage of Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon on Monday evening. Martin and Lyon were the first same-sex couple to marry during the 2004 "Winter of Love" in that city, but this time their wedding will be legal.

The two ceremonies Advertisement will be among the thousands expected to take place in California beginning Tuesday morning when marriage licenses can legally be issued to same-sex couples.

"Our marriage-equality lawsuit became the Trojan Horse, an exquisite wedding gift to all of us, in which all of our other legal rights rode to victory in the state of California," said Tyler, 66, who owns a travel business with Olson and is a longtime gay-rights activist.

Olson, 54, who also owns a small business of her own in Beverly Hills, is the granddaughter of Culbert Levy Olson, governor of California from 1938 to 1942.

Tyler and Olson's marriage, a Jewish wedding, will be officiated by Rabbi Denise Eger of Kol Ami Synagogue in West Hollywood.

Their roles as pioneers in the issue have only recently become widely credited by activists and the news media, which often had focused on San Francisco, where Newsom began marrying gay couples until the courts stopped him.

But Tyler and Olson, along with two other Los Angeles co-defendants, filed the first lawsuit challenging the state's marital law through high-powered attorney Gloria Allred.

Last week, as they were making arrangements for their historic wedding, they recalled that their original 2004 lawsuit made negative waves even within the gay and lesbian communities.

"The truth is we started this lawsuit against everybody telling us we would lose," said Tyler, who also blogs for The Huffington Post. "But a lot of the people who shunned us for filing this lawsuit are the same ones who are now getting a lot of credit."

Last month's Supreme Court decision has opened the way to a political showdown in the November general election in which California voters ultimately could decide the fate of same-sex marriage by voting on a ballot measure amending the state constitution to outlaw gay nuptials.

Attempts by opponents of same-sex marriage to stop the issuance of licenses to gay couples until the Legislature has the opportunity to change the laws have all been denied by the courts.

Gay couples are projected to spend $684million on flowers, cakes, hotels, photographers and other wedding services over the next three years - so long as the ballot measure banning same-sex marriage isn't approved, according to a study by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.