Alice “Nonie” Dubes and Vivian Boyack’s wedding ceremony was commemorated with front-page news stories and international press coverage. Their first-anniversary celebration, however, was a much simpler affair: the guests were just two close friends, the menu cherry pie à la mode and iced tea.

Dubes and Boyack, 91 and 92 years old respectively, had been a couple for 72 years before they were married in a small ceremony in Iowa in September 2014. It was the first time their relationship had been made public.

“It’s been fine, because we were together for 72 years before. We just couldn’t get married,” Dubes told the Guardian. “Nothing’s changed. Still the same – very good.”

In the year since Dubes and Boyack married, same-sex marriage has become legal nationwide. That was a change few predicted in the early 2000s, let alone when the couple met in the 40s.

Dubes thinks the couple’s closest friends knew about the relationship, though it was not discussed until their marriage at the First Christian Church in Davenport, where they have lived since 1947. Iowa was one of the first states to make same-sex marriage legal, when the state’s ban was struck down in April 2009.

The couple are not interested in discussing the decades they have spent together. As Dubes spoke with the Guardian by phone, Boyack chimed in on the call.

“We’re old and grouchy,” she said, prompting laughter from Dubes.

“We get that way sometimes, but just think how many years we’ve known each other,” Dubes said.

Since their story made international headlines, Dubes and Boyack have declined press requests and book offers, communicating their wishes through a man they have known since they were both 19.

Linda Hunsaker presides over the wedding of Vivian Boyack, left, and Alice “Nonie” Dubes, center, in Davenport last year. Photograph: Thomas Geyer/AP

“We heard from 25 countries and all over the United States. People wanted to write books and all sorts of things,” Dubes said.

They spend most of their days as they did before they were married – maintaining their four-room apartment and zipping around their retirement village on electric scooters.

“After all, we’re 92 years old,” Dubes said. “And it’s time for us to go to dinner now.”