SPARTA � Together for 40 years, it took only five minutes for Neal Poquette and Jim Smith of Lake Mohawk to get married on Thursday evening.

By ROB JENNINGS rjennings@njherald.com

SPARTA � Together for 40 years, it took only five minutes for Neal Poquette and Jim Smith of Lake Mohawk to get married on Thursday evening.

Mayor Gil Gibbs presided at their wedding in the municipal building, which began at 6 p.m.

It was the first same-sex wedding in Sparta, and possibly in Sussex County, since New Jersey on Monday became the nation�s 14th state to legalize gay marriage.

Three people, longtime friends of the couple, were in attendance. Via FaceTime, a gay couple who recently moved from Lake Mohawk to Arizona were watching.

In many ways, it was no different from any of the dozen or so weddings performed this year by Gibbs. He recited the usual wedding language, noting that each had given a �pledge of fidelity to each other.�

The few changes were subtle, but symbolic of the history-making aspect of their union.

Gibbs, who conferred with Poquette, 67, and Smith, 66, on their preferred wording, asked each if he would take the other as his �wedded husband.�

Smith was standing to the left of Poquette, facing Gibbs, with their two witnesses on either side. Each had a white rose affixed to his lapel.

They exchanged wedding rings.

�With this ring I thee wed, and I pledge to you my fidelity� Smith, repeating after Gibbs, said as he placed a ring on Poquette�s finger.

Gibbs made it official, stating, �Under the authority vested in me by the state � by the laws of the state of New Jersey � I pronounce you a married couple.�

�Congratulations,� the mayor said.

Smith reached toward Gibbs, and shook his hand. Gibbs then shook hands with Poquette.

The newly married couple then kissed and hugged.

Applauding on either side were their two witnesses, Ellen Conlon and Charles Quinn.

Conlon met Smith while both were attending Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1966.

�I�m so happy for them,� Conlon said.

Quinn was returning a favor from 44 years earlier, when Smith was the best man at his wedding in Livingston. His wife, Diana, also was in attendance.

Poquette said afterward he kept thinking the same thought � �This is really happening� � as Gibbs performed the ceremony.

�I would ditto that,� Smith said.

When Poquette and Smith met in Morristown in 1973, neither imagined that getting married would be an option in their lifetime. They lived together in Parsippany, Maryland and California before moving to Lake Mohawk 16 years ago.

With gay marriage legalized by a judge�s ruling, Poquette and Smith said they did not want to wait a day longer than necessary. They applied for their marriage license on Monday, just an hour after Gov. Chris Christie dropped his legal challenge to gay marriage.

�We just didn�t want to take a chance that anything else would happen,� Poquette said.

After Thursday�s wedding, Poquette, Smith and their three friends celebrated with a dinner at Il Porto.

Poquette and Smith were among at least seven couples in Sussex County who applied for marriage licenses on Monday, the day same-sex marriage became legal, according to a New Jersey Herald survey of municipal clerks.

Thursday was the earliest Poquette and Smith could have gotten married, since New Jersey requires a 72-hour waiting period for all married couples.

While dozens of couples in New Jersey obtained waivers to the 72-hour rule in order to marry shortly after midnight Monday, none of the publicly reported weddings were in Sussex County.