How romantic! Just hours before they walked down the aisle in front of their friends and family on Aug. 20, Ben Affleck, 50, kissed his bride (and already legal wife) Jennifer Lopez, 53, on the stairs of one of the homes on his Georgia property in images obtained by DailyMail. Jen looked gorgeous in a strapless white dress, while Ben was casual in jeans and a button down with a duffle bag — perhaps containing camera equipment — over his shoulder. The “Dear Ben” singer sat perched on the steps as Ben approached, then embracing her before locking lips!
Guests were spotted wearing all white as they mingled around Ben’s 87-acre lakefront property in Riceboro, Georgia on Aug. 20. As previously reported, Jennifer was set to walk down the aisle in a custom Ralph Lauren dress designed in Italy for the ceremony, which was officiated by her friend Jay Shetty. The wedding, helmed by event planner Colin Cowie, cost a reported $400K.
Before the big Georgia wedding bash, the superstar couple made it official by registering for a marriage license in Clark County, NV on Saturday, July 16. According to the license filing obtained by Hollywoodlife, Jennifer is taking Ben’s last name, as she is listed as “Jennifer Affleck.” At the time, the “Waiting For Tonight” hitmaker dished on all the details on her On the JLo newsletter, adding, “We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient.”
Jennifer and Ben have a love story for the ages. The iconic pair’s romance started while they were both working on the movie Gigli in 2002. Shortly afterwards, they went public with their relationship. “We met at a couple of parties. We barely paid any attention to each other,” Jennifer said during a 2003 Dateline interview for the movie. “We became friends first.”
The couple’s love affair was soon the talk of the town, earning the superstars the first one-name moniker for a celebrity couple: “Bennifer.” In November of 2002, Ben popped the question with a pink ring, worth a reported $2.5 million. As the anticipation for their wedding grew, the couple surprisingly called it off. “Due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding, we have decided to postpone the date,” the pair told People in a joint statement. By January 2004, J.Lo and Ben were officially exes.
Nearly two decades after ending their engagement, the former couple were back together and being called “Bennifer 2.0.” The pair went Instagram official in July 2021, when Jennifer shared a snap of them packing on the PDA during her 52nd birthday celebrations. After a year of dating, they decided to give an engagement another try in April 2022, as Ben got down on one knee with a green diamond ring, worth an estimated $5 million!
Looks like second chances in life really do exist! Congrats to the newlyweds!