The state Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage has created something unprecedented over the past year: Iowa as a wedding destination.

That April 3, 2009, decision, followed about three weeks later by the issuing of marriage licenses, led to 1,783 same-sex weddings by year’s end. Of those, 1,044 of the couples came from outside the state.

The ruling drew people like Judith Weir and Olly Staneslow of St. Paul, who boarded a bus with eight other gay couples last August and made the 250-mile drive to marry in a Des Moines church.

“It felt like a huge party all the way,” Weir said.

The couple of 17 years said they knew their marriage would have no legal standing back home but agreed it would have personal meaning.

“I felt relieved,” said Staneslow. “We know it’s not legal (in Minnesota) yet, but we’ve done everything we absolutely could.”

They were among 100 Minnesota same-sex couples who wed last year in Iowa, ranking the state second among those sending gay couples there to marry. Illinois topped the list at 172.

The top five states were from the Midwest, but people also came from Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Texas.

Iowa’s new status as a marriage destination prompted Beau Fodor to quit his job as a Salvation Army event planner and start a business organizing gay weddings. He’s worked with 15 couples so far, all from other states.

“I just knew it would be a good fit for me,” he said.

The Iowa Supreme Court’s decision came in a case pushed by the gay-rights group Lambda Legal. The justices upheld an August 2007 decision that found a state law limiting marriage to a man and a woman violates constitutional equal-protection rights.

Lambda Legal attorney Camilla Taylor said a marriage license enables Iowa same-sex couples to make medical decisions for one another, file state taxes together and have the right to be on the same insurance policy.