(AP) Two men were married outside a minister's home in the state's first legal same-sex wedding Friday morning, less than 24 hours after a judge threw out Iowa's ban on gay marriage and about two hours before the same judge put his ruling on hold.

It was a narrow window of opportunity.

About 20 gay couples had applied for marriage licenses by 11 a.m., when the Polk County Recorder announced that she had been instructed to stop accepting the applications.

Recorder Julie Haggerty said the instruction came from the county attorney's office after Polk County Judge Robert Hanson, the same judge who threw out the ban, verbally issued a stay of his ruling at the county's request. Hanson told The Associated Press about an hour and half later that he had filed the written ruling.

Before the county stopped taking applications, one couple applied and then obtained a judge's waiver of Iowa's three-day waiting period for marriage licenses.

The men, Sean Fritz and Tim McQuillan of Ames, then drove to the Des Moines home of the Rev. Mark Stringer, who quickly performed a wedding ceremony in his front yard.

"This is it. We're married. I love you," Fritz told McQuillan after the ceremony.

Stringer, a reverend at the First Unitarian Church of Des Moines, performed the marriage a day after Hanson issued a decision that Iowa's ban on same-sex marriage violated the state's constitution.

The ruling applied only to Polk County, but Iowa law allows citizens to take out a marriage application in any county.

Stringer concluded the ceremony by saying, "This is a legal document, and you are married."

The men then kissed and hugged.

Less than an hour later, the county stopped accepting applications.

That morning, a stream of gay couples filed applications at the recorder's office.

Katy Farlow and Larissa Boeck, students at Iowa State University, said they got to the county recorder's office at 5 a.m., then sat in lawn chairs and ate snacks until the office opened at 7:30 a.m.

They wanted to file an application early out of fear a judge would grant a stay, stopping applications while Thursday's ruling is appealed.

"This might be our only chance," Farlow said. "We already knew we were spending the rest of our lives together."

The first couple to apply for a license was Gary Allen Seronko, 51, and David Curtis Rethmeier, 29, who did so Thursday afternoon.

"I started to cry because we so badly want to be able to be protected if something happens to one of us," Rethmeier said.

In Hanson's ruling, he ordered the Polk County recorder to issue marriage licenses to six gay couples who filed the lawsuit.

"This is kind of the American Dream," said plaintiff Jen BarbouRoske, of Iowa City. "I'm still feeling kind of shaky. It's pure elation. I just cannot believe it."

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