Bennifer forever! This is Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez's 20-year journey to become husband and wife...

It’s a love story that's been 20 years in the making! J.Lo and Ben Affleck's romance first began in 2002 when they dated for 18 months before suddenly ending their engagement and splitting in 2004. But in 2021, Bennifer was back and now Bennifer is forever because the couple wed in a surprise ceremony in Las Vegas on Saturday July 16! This is how they got to their happily ever after...

In 2001, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck met on the set of the movie ‘Gigli’. At the time, the singer was married to her second husband, Cris Judd. In 2016, the actress reflected on the beginning of their relationship in an interview with People, saying: "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.' It was just a lot of pressure."

In July 2002, Jennifer and Ben were spotted kissing at J.Lo's surprise 32nd birthday party, marking the first appearance of the two being romantically linked. Two days later, J-Lo officially filed for divorce from her husband. Cris and the ‘If You Had My Love’ hitmaker had been separated for a month.

In late 2002, the ‘Argo’ actor starred in J.Lo’s ‘Jenny from the Block’ music video. The now iconic music video features a steamy moment between Bennifer.

In November 2002, Ben proposed to Jennifer as the two visited his family in Boston. J.Lo confirmed the happy news in an interview with Diane Sawyer saying: "It's the most magnificent thing I've ever seen," she said of the 6.1-carat pink diamond from Harry Winston that Affleck gave her. The ring reportedly cost $2.5 million!

In September 2003, a day before their planned big day, the pair postponed their wedding. They released a statement saying: “Due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding, we have decided to postpone the date. When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate “decoy brides” at three different locations, we realized that something was awry."

On January 22, 2004, the two ended their engagement. J.Lo confirmed the sad news through her spokesperson: "I am confirming the report that Jennifer Lopez has ended her engagement to Ben Affleck, at this difficult time, we ask that you respect her privacy."

On June 5, 2004, J.Lo married Latin music star Marc Anthony, with whom she now shares two children, twins Emme and Max, who were born in 2008. Lopez and Anthony separated in 2011 and divorced in 2014. In her 2014 book, ‘True Love’, she reflected on the turbulent period between announcing her split from Ben and marrying Anthony: “I sought out comfort in another person, tried to find someone who could make me feel loved and wanted in my loneliest hour. … Marc came back into my life three days after I should have been at the altar saying 'I do' to another man."

In 2005, Ben also decided to move on. He married actress Jennifer Garner and the new Hollywood couple welcomed three children together over the years: daughters Violet and Seraphina and son Samuel Affleck. The couple ended up divorcing in 2018.

In April 2021, after J.Lo ended her engagement to Alex Rodriguez and Ben split from actress Ana de Armas, the two were spotted hanging out again. For Jen’s InStyle cover story, Ben spoke about her legacy. It was his first big public comment about her in years. “I’m so happy for her that she seems, at long last, to be getting the credit she deserves.”

In July 2021, J.Lo went Instagram official with Ben at Leah Remini’s birthday bash. Things had never been better between the pair, and in April 2022 they were engaged. Bennifer then shocked the world by tying the knot at the world famous A Little White Wedding Chapel over the weekend. The A-list couple waited in line for a license with four other couples, "all making the same journey to the wedding capital of the world", and made it to the venue by midnight. J.Lo posted: "So with the best witnesses you could ever imagine, a dress from an old movie and a jacket from Ben’s closet, we read our own vows in the little chapel and gave one another the rings we’ll wear for the rest of our lives."