New York's first openly gay congressman, Sean Patrick Maloney, got married over the weekend, making him the second member in Congress to marry a same-sex partner.

The Democratic state representative exchanged vows Saturday evening with his longtime partner, Randy Gene Florke, at the Church of St. Mary-in-the-Highlands, a historic Episcopal church in Cold Spring, New York, Politico reports.

Maloney, a 47-year-old lawyer, and Florke, a 51-year-old real estate and design executive at the New York City firm he founded in 1996, had dated for 22 years. They decided to say "I do" in December after their youngest child wrote a letter to Santa Claus asking for her parents to walk down the aisle.

That pushed Florke to propose to Maloney on Christmas Day.

"Randy said if he left it up to me, I might never get around to it,'' Maloney said in January, according to USA Today.

Maloney, who represents the lower Hudson Valley region, and Florke have three adopted children: Reinel, 24, Daley, 13, and Essie, 11.

U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo congratulated the couple via Twitter.

The Democratic representative got married only two days before New York's primary election day. Maloney, who is running on the Independence Party ticket, talked about balancing his work in Congress with his family and home priorities, saying, "You know man, you've got to dance between the raindrops. ... There's real work to do, and I don't plan to stop doing that work because there are other important events in my life. I pride myself on being able to prioritize my family and my children, but also do the work I was hired to do.''

Former Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts became the first gay lawmaker to marry while serving in Congress in July 2012.