weddings

JLo just shared 8 never-before-seen pictures of her wedding to Ben Affleck.

Almost two decades after their first engagement ended, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck officially married in July. 

Their wedding ceremony in Vegas in a "little chapel" couldn't have been more chill. Ben got dressed in a public toilet beforehand, while JLo wore a dress from an old film.

Sweet, yet understated, the pair alluded to the idea that they wanted something simple and to focus on their love instead.

"We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient," she wrote in her newsletter.

"When love is real, the only thing that matters in marriage is one another. Stick around long enough and maybe you'll find the best moment of your life in a drive through in Las Vegas at 12:30am in the tunnel of love with your kids and the one you'll spend forever with."

And then JLo and Affleck did a complete 180.

An understated celebration was thrown out the window, and in its place was a three-day wedding celebration extravaganza - going right back to their Hollywood roots.

Watch: Engagement ring trends through the decades. Story continues below.


Video via Mamamia.
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The official event took place at the end of August and included a rehearsal dinner on the Friday, a ceremony on the Saturday and a barbeque on the Sunday. It featured an extensive dress code, plenty of guests, some lush marques and three custom couture Ralph Lauren dresses.

While JLo shared a few pictures at the time of her wedding on her blog, she's since shared a whole collection of behind-the-scenes snaps on her Instagram. Captioning the reel, "2022 was one of the best years yet!!!" the video featured both her Vegas and Georgia nuptials and multiple fittings of her wedding dresses.

Getting ready for the big day. Image: @jlo Instagram.

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The reception of the Georgia wedding. Image: @jlo Instagram. 

The Vegas wedding. Image: @jlo Instagram.

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Fittings for the Georgia ceremony wedding dress. Image: @jlo Instagram.

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Excuse us while we indulge you even further in a complete deep dive into the Georgia wedding of Jennifer and Ben Affleck – including all the celebrity attendees and the backlash to their venue choice. 

Their children were the only people in their wedding party.

Ben Affleck has three children - Violet, Seraphina and Samuel - from his marriage to Jennifer Garner, while JLo has two - Emme and Maximilian - with her ex-husband Marc Anthony.

Since the couple were becoming a blended family, it was only fitting they asked all five children to be in their wedding party and walk ahead of Lopez down the aisle.

"We weren’t only marrying one another, we were marrying these children into a new family," the singer wrote in her newsletter, On the JLo.

"They were the only people we asked to stand up for us in our wedding party. To our great honour and joy, each one did."

Image: On The JLo.

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They played a song they had chosen as their wedding song over 20 years ago.

ICYMI, Affleck and Lopez originally dated from 2002 to 2004.

During that time, the couple discussed how Marc Cohn’s song 'True Companion' would be the perfect "wedding love song" when staying at Affleck's Georgia home - the same place that would later become their wedding venue.

For their special day, the singer surprised her husband-to-be with Cohn singing at their ceremony.

"Though Ben didn’t know, I asked Marc to surprise him by singing at our wedding and he was lovely and generous to come," she wrote. 

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As the 53-year-old walked down the aisle, Cohn played a song about "the wonderful mystery of children" which was "the perfect choice as our five children preceded me on the walk".

When the eldest of their children finished her walk, Cohn began singing 'True Companion'.

"A song we first listened to together what seemed both like yesterday and forever ago — and life came, strangely, beautifully, mysteriously, divinely full-circle," she said.

Ben Affleck quoted one of his movies in his reception speech.

Lopez titled her most recent newsletter, "This is heaven. Right Here. We’re in it now."

The line was one of the singer's favourites from Affleck's movie, Live By Night.

"He also said it the night of our wedding reception in his speech, and I thought... how perfect," she wrote.

Image: On The JLo.

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Jennifer Lopez had three wedding dress changes. 

JLo didn't just wear one Ralph Lauren dress - oh no, she wore three of them. 

The first 'showstopper dress' was a cap-sleeve with a ruffled hem - made up of more than 1,000 hand-cut handkerchiefs. And the veil was spectacularly big. 

Next up was the 'chandelier pearl gown' which had strings and strings AND more strings of pearls across her body. Then the final piece was a body con mermaid gown embellished with Swarovski crystals. 

JLo shared photos of each of the three dresses in her newsletter, and Ralph Lauren also put up a behind-the-scenes video of the design process. 

Ben Affleck also wore Ralph Lauren Couture, opting for a white tuxedo jacket with black pants and a black bow tie. And of course their respective kids - who were in attendance - also all wore Ralph Lauren.

Image: On The JLo.  

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Image: On The JLo.

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An ambulance was called ahead of the wedding.

Affleck's mother had to be taken to hospital after she fell off a dock at his Georgia home a day before the wedding.

According to Page Six, an ambulance was seen departing the actor's property with his mother taken to St Joseph Candler children's hospital in Savannah. The outlet reported that Affleck's mum fell and cut her leg.

The pair had their ceremony at Affleck's "plantation" home.

The ceremony officially took place at Afflecks' longtime Georgia home, described as "a remarkable re-creation of a Southern antebellum Greek Revival plantation home".

Affleck first purchased the sprawling 87-acre Riceboro estate in 2003 for US$7.11 million - the same time he was dating JLo. The property location was reportedly a "thriving rice plantation" known as the Hampton Pastures dating back to the pre-Civil War period.

For context, there were over 40,000 plantations in operation in 1860 in America's south, and nearly four million African-American slaves in the US. 

It's quite a controversial move from Affleck and JLo, considering the backlash former celebrities have faced for following similar actions. Actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds wed at Boone Hall Plantation in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. While at the time the couple didn't think much about marrying on a plantation, they have since regretted the decision.

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"It's something we'll always be deeply and unreservedly sorry for," Reynolds told Fast Company. "It's impossible to reconcile. What we saw at the time was a wedding venue on Pinterest. What we saw after was a place built upon devastating tragedy."

In 2018, Affleck put the home up for sale, but later took it off the market and decided to keep it. 

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J-Lo styled all three days.

Although the couple have the means to hire a wedding planner (and probably did), JLo insists she styled the three-day event herself.

"For those who are interested in such things, I have a few details of what we did decor-wise on each of the three days," she wrote in her newsletter. "I designed it and could easily talk about it for days!"

The 53-year-old shared how she "wanted each day to have its own personality," but overall, "the vibes were down-home, rustic country chic."

We see you JLo with that Pinterest inspo...

The rehearsal dinner. Image: On The JLo.

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The ceremony. Image: On The JLo.

The reception. Image: On The JLo.

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The recovery party. Image: On The JLo.

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Certain people weren't in attendance at the wedding - including Jennifer Garner and Casey Affleck.

Affleck's ex-wife Jennifer Garner didn't attend the wedding, although their three children did.

Garner, who was married to Affleck from 2005 to 2018 was reportedly invited to the wedding, but declined the invitation, citing a scheduling conflict.

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A source told Hollywood Life: "Jennifer Garner is hard at work on a project in Texas and won't be attending the wedding celebration, but she's been totally supportive of her kids being there and is really positive in general about the whole thing. There is nothing more important to her than her kids' happiness so the fact that they feel welcomed and at ease and have bonded with JLo and her kids is just the best thing she could ask for."

As for Affleck's brother, fellow actor Casey Affleck, it appears he missed the ceremony as well. He was spotted in Los Angeles on the day of the event.

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A source told PEOPLE that Casey didn't attend "unfortunately because of family, parental obligations at home".

Reflecting on their marriage, Lopez wrote in her newsletter that it was something both her and Affleck had dreamed about for a long time.

"When love is real, the only thing that matters in marriage is one another and the promise we make to love, care, understand, be patient, loving and good to one another. We had that. And so much more. Best night of our lives."

Their wedding was "perfect timing".

Although the couple were engaged before having children, JLo insists that now, in 2022, was the perfect time for them to finally make it official.

"The truth is everyone’s story is different and we all have our paths to travel. No two people are the same," she wrote in her newsletter.

"But for us, this was perfect timing. Nothing ever felt more right to me, and I knew we were finally 'settling down' in a way you can only do when you understand loss and joy and you are battle tested enough to never take the important things for granted or let the silly insignificant nuisances of the day get in the way of embracing every precious moment."

This article was first published on August 21, 2022, and was updated on August 24, 2022, September 2, 2022 and January 3, 2023.

Feature Image: On The JLo.