The couple have been together for three years. When they had a chance to be married in 2008, they decided against it because they didn't want to rush things. Since then, they have exchanged rings and now consider themselves married. But they want to make it official, Mayhall said, for the sake of equality.

Both of them had been out of state this week, but they rushed back to Los Angeles Wednesday, hoping to be married Thursday evening "with the sun setting in the background."

Instead, they left dejected and, at least in the eyes of the law, still unwed. "I feel mentally and physically exhausted and disappointed. My body was all revved up in the waiting, and now that I know, it's just crashed," Rastrelli said.