Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck wedding: Couple's most romantic quotes
Watch: Jennifer Lopez shows her wedding dress ahead of marriage to Ben Affleck
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are officially married.
Almost two decades on from their first engagement, the couple have tied the knot in an intimate ceremony in Las Vegas.
In a new blog post on her OnTheJlo website, the Marry Me actor shared a set of photos and videos offering a behind-the-scenes peek at the couple's big day.
“Last night we flew to Vegas, stood in line for a licence with four other couples, all making the same journey to the wedding capital of the world,” she wrote.
“Love is patient,” Lopez continued, “twenty years patient”, in reference to the fact this is the couple's second chance at romance.
The post was then signed off: “With love, Mrs Jennifer Lynn Affleck”.
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The Jenny From The Block singer, 52, and the Batman actor, 49, surprised the world when they rekindled their romance in 2021, almost 17 years after they ended their first engagement, and just weeks after Lopez now Affleck had split from her then fiancé Alex Rodriguez.
Since then, the couple have been going from strength to strength, announcing their engagement back in April and now revealing details of their low-key nuptials on Saturday.
From their hopes of eventually walking down the aisle to the traits they admire in one another, here's a look back on everything the newlyweds have said about their relationship, both first and second time around.
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On finding love second time around
Discussing her reunion with Affleck, the Love Don’t Cost A Thing singer told People earlier this year: "We’re older now, we’re smarter, we have more experience, we’re at different places in our lives, we have kids now, and we have to be very conscious of those things.
"It's a beautiful outcome that this has happened in this way at this time in our lives where we can really appreciate and celebrate each other and respect each other."
On rekindling their romance
Lifting the lid on their second-time romance, which previously ended in 2004, Affleck described the couple's relationship 2.0 as "beautiful" and touched on what it was like returning to a former love.
"I can say that it’s definitely beautiful to me," he told Wall Street Journal. "And, you know, one of the things I really value across all facets of my life now is that it was handled in a way that reflected that."
Hinting further about the topic, Affleck added: “And it is a good story. It’s a great story.
"And, you know, maybe one day I’ll tell it. I’ll write it all out. And then I’ll light it on fire."
On being glad of "second chances"
In the same interview with the Wall Street Journal, Affleck spoke about the role second chances have played in both his career and his personal life.
“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. I’ve had second chances in my career. I’ve had second chances as a human being," he said.
"Life is difficult, and we are always failing and hopefully learning from those failures. The one thing you really need to avail yourself of the opportunities provided from that growth is the second chance. I’ve definitely tried to take advantage of that. I haven’t always been successful, but in cases in which I have, they’ve turned out to be the defining aspects of my life."
Meanwhile, Lopez also spoke about second chance romance earlier this year in a cover story for People, describing her relationship with Affleck as being "beautiful".
“It’s a beautiful love story that we got a second chance," she said, adding that she's "never been better".
On being "in awe" of Lopez's work ethic
Earlier this year, in a rare interview discussing Lopez and her work, Affleck credited his now wife for her achievements and the contribution she has made in helping to make women feel more represented.
Speaking to AdWeek, Affleck told the publication he is "in awe" of his other half's work and the impact she has had.
"All I can tell you is that I have seen first-hand the difference representation makes, because I have seen, over and over and over and over, women of colour approach Jennifer and tell her what her example as a strong woman and a woman succeeding and demanding her fair share in the business world means to them," he said.
"I am in awe of what Jennifer’s effect on the world is," he added.
On the chance of getting married again
Before their nuptials, Lopez revealed she hadn't ruled out the possibility of one day walking down the aisle with someone special, claiming she still believes in marriage.
“You know me. I’m a romantic,” she told Today, when asked if she could see herself getting married again in the future.
“I always have been. I’ve been married a few times. Yeah, I still believe in happily ever after, for sure, 100%.”
On what she loved about Affleck first time round
Back in November 2002 Lopez spoke to Primetime's Diane Sawyer about the traits she admired in her then fiancé.
“I’d probably say that he is brilliantly smart, loving, charming, affectionate," Lopez said when asked to describe Affleck.
"And I just admire him in every way. I respect him. I feel like he teaches me things."
On the first proposal
In the same interview Lopez details Affleck's first proposal: “It’s just a blanket, a quilt of rose petals, all over the whole entire house,” Lopez told Sawyer.
“So many candles, and vases, bouquets. And my song ‘Glad’ was playing ... I walk in and I was just like overwhelmed. I wasn’t expecting it, and I was just like, ‘Oh my God.’”
On her heartbreak after their split
“It felt like my heart had been torn out of my chest,” Lopez wrote about the split from Affleck in her 2014 book, True Love.
“It was probably my first big heartbreak,” the singer added while addressing the subject on the Today show.
Later, the star said it took her two years to feel more like herself after the break-up. “I lost my sense of self, questioned if I belonged in this business, thought maybe I did suck at everything, and my relationship [with Affleck] self-destructed in front of the entire world,” she told Vanity Fair in 2018. “It was a two-year thing for me until I picked myself up again.”
On believing "this is it" when she first met Affleck
While reflecting on her relationship with Affleck after their break-up, Lopez recalled in 2016 that she believed Affleck could be the one.
“(When I first met him) I felt like … ‘OK, this is it,” Lopez told People. “I think different time, different thing, who knows what could’ve happened, but there was a genuine love there.”
On how their relationship has changed
In an interview with the New York Times earlier this year, Lopez said the couple had learnt some lessons from their relationship, first time around, namely to hold their relationship "sacred".
"You have to do what feels good to you all the time," she said. "But at the same time, you learn from the past, you do things better the second time. There’s a part of it that, yes, we’re together. But there’s a part of it that’s not, you know, being so open the way we were when we were so young and in love many years ago."
On her hopes for the couple's future
“I just want my future to be full of love and happiness, with my children and my partner,” the Marry Me star told People in February 2022.
“I think everybody just wants to be happy, with somebody to go on the journey with and grow old with, and I feel good about that right now. To see the person, the human being, the man that he is today, the father that he is today, the partner that he is — he is so everything I always knew he was and wanted to be.”
She went on to add that their romance is “a beautiful love story": “What I can teach my children is that real love exists. Some things can be forever, but it doesn't mean they just have a straight line."
