The minister who married Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck revealed how the couple exchanged “beautiful words” in their vows during their recent wedding in Las Vegas.
Ryan Wolfe, the lead pastor at Grace Christian Centre of Las Vegas, discussed the actors’ ceremony at A Little White Wedding Chapel during an interview with People this week and dhared how Affleck and Lopez “had their own vows that they wanted to share with one another”.
While Wolfe didn’t specify what the 51-year-old singer and 49-year-old actor specifically said to each other, he did say that “they had their own words and they were beautiful words to each other”. He noted how their “love” for each other was very clear during the vow exchange.
“It was an emotional moment they shared with one another,” he explained. “You can definitely see the love that they have for each other.”
The minister also recalled that he and his co-worker at A Little White Wedding Chapel, Kenosha Booth Portis, saw the couple arrive at the venue around 9 pm — right before the space was going to close. However, he said that they didn’t “expect” it to be Lopez and Affleck.
“We were locking up everything, and they get out and we were like, ‘Okay, well I guess we can do one more,” he continued. “So they walked in, and I know Jennifer Lopez, of course. But you don’t expect to see Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez walking through the door every day.”
After the “On the Floor” singer and the Gone Girl star arrived, Wolfe walked them to their own rooms in order to change into their wedding outfits.
For the occasion, Lopez wore two dresses, including a white one that she had owned for years and an off-the-shoulder lace gown by Zuhair Murda. Meanwhile, the groom wore a white tuxedo jacket, bowtie, and black pants.
(On The JLO)
Wolfe explained that as Affleck was changing, he realised who the actor was and tried not to get “so starstruck”.
“As I was walking Ben Affleck to the restroom outside the men’s public restroom, he said, ‘No, I don’t need anything fancy. I’m not fancy,’” the pastor explained. “I walked him out there, and then all of a sudden it just hit me. I’m like, ‘That’s Ben Affleck! That’s Ben Affleck!’”
“You don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable so you don’t want to get so nervous and so starstruck, but it was hard not to do,” he added.
Wolfe says the Marry Me star “wanted just a regular wedding” so she walked down the aisle to “Here Comes the Bride.” He described how Lopez had“flowers” in her hands, while Affleck “had a boutonnière on” his jacket.
After the couple said their vows, Wolfe said that he “was able to bless them and pray over them” quickly with “literally like an eight-second prayer,” before they “exchanged rings.”
Jennifer Lopez in the Zuhair Murad gown
(On the J-Lo newsletter)
The wedding was quite private, as the only other guests there were Lopez’s 14-year-old daughter, Emme, and one of Affleck’s children.
Lopez shares her 14-year-old twins, Emme and Max, with ex-husband Marc Anthiny, while Affleck shares his two daughters, Violet, 16, and Seraphina, 13, and his son, Samuel, 10, with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
Even though the two children were the only witnesses at the ceremony, the pastor acknowledged how they weren’t old enough to be “the legal witness”.
“Now they have to be 18 to be the legal witness, but I allowed their kids to sign their souvenir document,” he explained. “So they signed that and I gave that to them. And then of course our coordinator, Kenosha, had to be their official witness on the official licence.”
However, Wolfe said that the children seemed “thrilled” at the end of the ceremony and “really were happy”.
Jennifer Lopez in the Alexander McQueen dress
(On the JLo/Jennifer Lopez)
“You could tell [the two kids] also were close, had a good relationship, really liked each other,” he said. “They were very excited and you could tell they really were happy.”
Wolfe then detailed how after he “set up [Affleck’s] phone” in the chapel to film the ceremony, the children were in charge of taking pictures, since “there was no professional photographer”.
Although he said that the ceremony was “more lengthy” than some of the others they’ve done and didn’t end until “after midnight,” the couple “loved everything about it”.
“And then, of course, they took tons of pictures after in [Elvis Presley’s] pink Cadillac and in the chapel, but just with their phones,” he added. “They were very thrilled with the ceremony, and they complimented and loved everything about it.”
Wolfe shared his support for the couple, calling them “soulmates” that he believes “will last” and “meant for each other”.
In her “On the JLo” newsletter on Sunday, Lopez detailed how she had the “best wedding.”
“They even had Bluetooth for a (short) march down the aisle. But in the end it was the best possible wedding we could have imagined,” she wrote. “One we dreamed of long ago and one made real (in the eyes of the state, Las Vegas, a pink convertible and one another) at very, very long last.”
The couple first began dating in July 2002 and got engaged in November of that year. After they called off their September 2003 wedding, they announced their breakup a few months later. The duo notably got back together in 2021 and announced their second engagement in April.
