The ceremony was less than four minutes long, but it was 31 years in the making.
Dr. Ralph Gibson and Andrew Jacobyansky, who met in 1980, were married at on Tuesday afternoon, in between taking patients at Gibson's practice at the nearby healthcare center.
It was the first known same-sex couple wedding since the Marriage Equality Act became law in East Hampton.
Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., a close friend, officiated the small ceremony in his office in the historic village hall on Main Street at 1:30 p.m., over 24 hours after the .
"Wow -- you go from joking around, now it's real, it's real," Gibson said afterwards. "I'm really happy and emotional," he said.
"I feel great -- Wow," Jacobyansky said.
There were no other official guests, just many well-wishers who work at village hall, including Village Administrator Larry Cantwell, who served as the witness.
Gibson had some last minute wedding jitters -- why exactly he wasn't sure. All those years of waiting and now the day had finally arrived. He kept it light, telling how he joked with a patient that he was going to have diet to fit into his mother's wedding gown.
Fifteen or 20 years ago, Jacobyansky had surpised Gibson with Cartier rings, not as an official engagement, but as a show of commitment, they said as they waited for the ceremony to begin. They used those rings on Tuesday and put them back on the same fingers they have set for almost two decades.
"Will you have this person as your wedded spouse?," Rickenbach asked each one of them, reminding them they were vowing to love, comfort and honor them as long as they both shall live.
They agreed they would.
"This became a recent law in the State of New York that same-sex couples could now enter into the bonds of matriomy," Rickenbach said after he pronounced them married.
"I’ve known these two gentleman, I love them like family, and it’s kind of a humbling honor for to be able to take this opportunity to join them legally," he said.
The couple returned to work afterwards and planned to celebrate over dinner later at the 1770 House.
They are planning a reception near their 31th anniversary of being together in September. A life-long dream of visiting India, which had been planned before the Marriage Equality Act came into law last month, will serve as a honeymoon.
