Gay wedding business opens on the Coastside

Rev. Christie Hardwick has identified Half Moon Bay as an ideal location to start a new business in staging same-sex weddings, now that it’s legal in California.

"I have heard from a couple of people making sure the (gay wedding) market knows that they’re there," said Charise Hale McHugh, president and CEO of the Half Moon Bay Coastside Chamber of Commerce. "Businesses have been hurting. Anything that brings people to Half Moon Bay is advantageous for everyone. We are a tourism-based economy."

Half Moon Bay farmer John Muller has already been approached about allowing his picturesque farm home, with its pumpkins and flowers, to be used as a site for future catered gay weddings.

"If things work out, we would be interested in doing it. It’s another aspect of the flexibility of staying in agriculture," he shrugged.