Sunday didn’t change much, and yet it felt a lot different to Wesley Friedman and David Arterburn.

The Gig Harbor couple, Washington residents only since their move from Texas in July, were among the thousands to get married last weekend as the state’s marriage equality law, approved by voters in November’s election, officially went into effect. Friedman and Arterburn planned to get married during the summer, but the referendum challenge to the law forced them to wait – a short wait, of course, compared with the 24 years the couple’s been together.

“We just put everything on hold again,” Friedman said of their summer ceremony, which they’d planned to hold at Seattle’s Gasworks Park.

They went whale watching with friends on that day instead, and they were finally able to legally tie the knot at Gasworks at 9 a.m. Sunday.

“We’ve been living together in a married, committed relationship for 24 years,” Friedman said. “So how we live our lives now is no different. But there is a feeling of equality, and of belonging.”

He said he’s excited to be able to select “married” rather than “single” on his official forms, and to call Arterburn his husband. The couple had a ceremony in Vermont in 2001, shortly after it became the first state to legalize same-sex civil unions, but they have never lived in a state where they could legally wed.

“We committed to each other well before the law caught up to us,” Friedman said.

They met in the late 1980s in Dallas, a very different environment for a gay couple than today’s moment of legal triumph in Washington. They’d run into each other at a country-western bar, as Friedman worked up the nerve to ask Arterburn out.

“I stalked him for a couple weeks,” Friedman joked.

Living in Texas made the couple feel like they had to keep their relationship reserved, cautious of disapproval or discrimination. When they looked for a place to move as they both settled into semi-retirement, they were drawn to the Northwest and found their home in Gig Harbor. They bought a house four years ago and are now fully moved in.

“Washington is so different,” Arterburn said. “Everyone’s been so supportive.”

Their wedding officiant advised them to apply for a marriage license on the first day they became available, last Thursday, if they wanted to get married on the first possible day.

“Being able to say we were first, in the first state where the voting public allowed marriage equality – it felt historic,” Friedman said.

Support from the public came with each step of the historic process, Friedman said. They visited the Pierce County Auditor’s office on Wednesday to get their number for the line for applications – “lucky No. 13,” Friedman said – and were greeted by employees who cheered the applying couples. In Seattle, people who spent their Sunday morning at Gasworks Park came up to Friedman and Arterburn to wish them well – a welcome change for the couple used to having to hide their relationship.

“People here are living reality,” Friedman said.

Their ceremony was small, with just two close friends who attended and Arterburn’s family watching over Skype. Afterward, the newlyweds went to brunch and then to a celebration Sunday evening at Seattle’s Paramount Theatre, where many of the couples who got married that day headed to toast each other and hear speeches from Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and Gov. Chris Gregoire, among others.

“The world is changing,” Arterburn said.

He and Friedman took the presence of the governor and other elected officials at such an event as a true sign of progress, and one that made the day that much more meaningful.

With the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement that, in the coming year, it will hear challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s law that bans same-sex marriages, there is hope among gay-rights supporters that marriage equality could go beyond the few states that now allow it. Friedman and Arterburn are optimistic.

“The law is on our side, the Constitution is on our side,” Friedman said. “And history is on our side.”

For now, though, they are content to continue their lives in Gig Harbor, in a marriage that isn’t likely to change beyond one significant legal distinction. They aren’t planning a honeymoon – “We’re still doing retirement,” Friedman said – but they may take a trip next year to celebrate their 25th year together.

And they’ll always remember their ceremony Sunday, standing in a sheltered part of the park to keep out of the rain, committing to each other again and for the first time in the approving eyes of the law.

“It felt different,” Friedman said. “It felt good.”