Peduto will do marriages once a month to handle 'hundreds of requests'

Bill Peduto has become the marrying mayor of Pittsburgh.

Peduto said he has received so many requests to perform marriage ceremonies that he will block off time one Thursday each month for them.

“I've gotten hundreds of requests,” Peduto said. “People want me to come to their weddings on Saturdays and Sundays, and in other counties. I can't do that.”

On Thursday, he presided over nuptials for Drs. Kate Felmet, 43, and Ivonne Daly, 45, in his conference room.

Felmet, 43, is a pediatric critical-care doctor at Children's Hospital, and Daly, 45, is a trauma surgeon for the Army Reserve who has been deployed to Iraq. The couple lives in Shadyside. They met 14 years ago while training at Children's.

“Pittsburgh is where our whole relationship sort of bloomed and blossomed, so it made sense to have the mayor of Pittsburgh marry us,” Felmet said.

Peduto, 49, of Point Breeze purchased a robe specifically for marriage ceremonies with $90 from his political campaign fund. On Thursday, he gave the flower girls a tour of his offices, including a “secret staircase” leading to another floor in the City-County Building, Downtown. The city doesn't charge a fee for the wedding ceremonies in the mayor's office.

The mayor married 20 same-sex couples in the City-County Building on June 15 after a federal judge ruled that the state's ban on same-sex marriages was unconstitutional.

Bob Bauder is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-765-2312 or bbauder@tribweb.com.