Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck Got Married At the House Ben Bought For Them Back in 2003
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez (or should we say Jennifer Affleck?) first got engaged in 2002, but it would be another two decades before the celebrity couple would reunite and finally tie the knot. They made it official in a quickie wedding in Las Vegas in July 2022, but celebrated with their families a month later at a lavish ceremony at Affleck’s Georgia compound.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck got married in Vegas in July 2022
Jennifer Lopez announced the news of her nuptials herself in her newsletter, On the JLo.
“We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient,” she wrote. “Last night we flew to Vegas, stood in line for a license with four other couples, all making the same journey to the wedding capital of the world … all of us wanting the same thing — for the world to recognize us as partners and to declare our love to the world through the ancient and nearly universal symbol of marriage.”
“Stick around long enough and maybe you’ll find the best moment of your life in a drive through in Las Vegas at 12:30 in the morning in the tunnel of love drive through, with your kids and the one you’ll spend forever with,” she added. “Love is a great thing, maybe the best of things — and worth waiting for.”
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck had their wedding ceremony in Georgia
Both J. Lo and Affleck celebrated birthdays in the weeks following their Vegas wedding. Finally, on August 20, 2022, the two had their long-overdue fairy tale wedding, nearly two decades after their first scheduled wedding was planned.
According to People, Lopez and Affleck’s friends and family went to Affleck’s 87-acre estate in Riceboro, Georgia, outside of Savannah, for the highly-anticipated wedding. A source told the magazine that J. Lo wore a white Ralph Lauren gown with a long train and veil, with Affleck in a tuxedo with a white jacket and black pants.
In another full-circle coincidence, Affleck bought the house back in 2003 for him and Lopez to live in. It was reported at the time that they were even planning to build a wedding chapel on the property.
They had to cancel their first wedding because of media attention
Lopez and Affleck’s relationship first blossomed in the early 2000s, when tabloid magazines became the go-to source for celebrity gossip. But the coverage of “Bennifer” at the time reached a fever pitch, eventually driving the stars to call off their planned wedding in September 2003
“Due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding, we have decided to postpone the date,” they said in a joint statement. “When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate ‘decoy brides’ at three different locations, we realized that something was awry. We began to feel that the spirit of what should have been the happiest day of our lives could be compromised. We felt what should have been a joyful and sacred day could be spoiled for us, our families and our friends.”
Both of them acknowledged how difficult of a decision it was years after they broke off their first engagement.
“I think Jen and I made a mistake in that we fell in love, we were excited and maybe too accessible,” Affleck told British TV show Live in 2008. ”I don’t think either of us anticipated the degree to which it would take on a world of its own.”
Lopez agreed, telling People in March 2016, “We didn’t try to have a public relationship.”
“We just happened to be together at the birth of the tabloids, and it was like, ‘Oh my God,'” she continued. “It was just a lot of pressure. I think different time, different thing, who knows what could’ve happened? But there was a genuine love there.”
