WEST POINT, N.Y. (December 2, 2012)--The landmark church at the center of spiritual life at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point hosted its first same-sex wedding Saturday as brides Penelope Gnesin and Brenda Sue Fulton, a West Point graduate, exchanged vows in a afternoon ceremony attended by about 250 guests.

The two have been together for 17 years.

They had a civil commitment ceremony that didn't carry any legal force in 1999, and had long hoped to formally tie the knot.

New York legalized same-sex marriage last year, just months before President Barack Obama lifted the policy prohibiting openly gay people from serving in the military.

The ceremony is the second same-sex wedding at West Point.

Last weekend, two of Fulton's friends got married in another campus chapel.