Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck made a late dash to Las Vegas on Saturday—and finally walked down the aisle after two decades and two separate romances.
In her newsletter, On the J.Lo, Lopez confirmed the couple’s marriage and shared intimate pictures and details of the ceremony, headlining with “we did it.”
“Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient,” she wrote, signed Jennifer Lynn Affleck.
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“They were right when they said, ‘all you need is love.’ We are so grateful to have that in abundance, a new wonderful family of five amazing children, and a life that we have never had more reason to look forward to.”
Lopez revealed she and Affleck flew to Las Vegas, stood in line with four other couples to receive their license and eventually found themselves at the Little White Chapel, which has its own drive-through “tunnel of love.” The celebrity couple were wed just after midnight.
In what was a simple ceremony she said she “dreamed of long ago,” Lopez wore a dress from an “old movie” while Affleck wore a suit jacket from his own wardrobe.
Lopez said that despite the lack of glitz and glamour, including a Bluetooth speaker playing them down the aisle, it was the best night of their lives.
“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 and at the tunnel of love drive through, with your kids and the one you’ll spend forever with,” Lopez said.
“Love is a great thing, maybe the best of things—and worth waiting for.”
This is Lopez’s fourth marriage.
The couple first met in 2001 while filming the 2003 rom-com flop Gigli. Lopez was still married to her second husband, dancer Cris Judd, at the time. In 2002 Affleck appeared in the music video for “Jenny From the Block” and by the end of that year, the pair were engaged.
In September 2003, just days before they were set to marry, they released a joint statement postponing the wedding, citing excessive media attention. “When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate ‘decoy brides’ at three different locations, we realized that something was awry,” the statement read. “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.” The pair split four months later in January, 2004.
The ex-couple reconnected in April last year shortly after Lopez cut off her engagement to former baseball star Alex Rodriguez, whom she dated for about four years.
The reunion with Affleck —and subsequent engagement this past April—launched a series of Bennifer tributes, with the two commenting on what the second chance meant.
“I am very lucky in my life in that I have benefited from second chances, and I am aware that other people don’t even get first chances,” Affleck told The Wall Street Journal in December. Lopez shared that sentiment, telling PEOPLE in February: “I feel so lucky and happy and proud to be with him. It’s a beautiful love story that we got a second chance.”
Read it at Page Six
