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RYE, N.Y. -- John Victor Self and Chris Fraley shared their first kiss as husband and husband after City of Rye marriage officer Susan Morison made their union official Sunday, the day the Marriage Equality Act went into effect.
"It was important for us to do this today," said Fraley. "There was just so much excitement building up to this moment."
The Rye couple was joined by friends and family under the gazebo between the library and the firehouse near the Village Green. Self held their 16-month-old daughter CoCo and Fraley held their dog Nene as they said their vows and exchanged rings.
Although Sunday, July 24, was the first day of the marriage act, most clerk offices were closed throughout the state. Self and Fraley went to Greenburg earlier that day to obtain their marriage license and returned to Rye to have Morison preside over their marriage, the first for a same-sex couple in Rye.
"I'm just so happy for them," said close friend and witness John Laidman. "I missed the first wedding."
Self and Fraley, who have been together since 2003, had a wedding ceremony in St. Barts in 2008 and a civil ceremony while honeymooning in South Africa, but Sunday marked the legal recognition of their marriage in the State of New York.
"I think this is going to be the last wedding for us," said Fraley.
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