As I mentioned earlier in the Bennifer wedding guest post, I’ve been checking all morning to see if Vogue has posted any shots from Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s wedding reception weekend – nothing as of 11am ET. And there isn’t anything in my inbox from ON THE JLO either. It was reported last week that Vogue would get the exclusive…and my guess now, at this point, is that they won’t run it today so as to leave enough distance between their high-quality images and the paparazzi photos. 

 

I’ve included one shot here of Bennifer where you can see the dress and if you want to see more, if you haven’t already, head to TMZ or Page Six or the Daily Mail. At this point, so many of the details are out there, what’s really left are the closeups. Especially since the ceremony happened outside, you have to think, given their experience, that Bennifer would have known the media would be all over them and Vogue too so I’m curious about what agreements were in place about what to hold back for both Bennifer and Vogue to get maximum exposure. That’s the celebrity inside baseball I wish someone could do a follow-up podcast on. 

 

So here we are, 20 years later, 20 years after Ben Affleck proposed, married at the place where they were hoping to get married way back then. A place in Georgia, a “plantation-style” property, a property that Ben was trying to unload just two years ago that was the site of a rice plantation. A place some are saying is in poor taste, because while Ben acquired the property two decades ago, in 2022 we are by now all aware that the glorification of the antebellum, which includes style and architecture and architecture related to land, is akin to glorification of wealth through slave labour. 

It's a happy occasion for Bennifer but the optics aren’t great – which is an understatement. So that’s another thing to consider while we wait for this Vogue feature, if indeed there will be a Vogue feature. Vogue also has to consider the optics of it since they consider themselves the style bible and, well, if they’re praising the style of a wedding that took place on these grounds, and is meant to influence so many others, they just might be stepping in it too. 

 

As for Bennifer and this second celebration, all of their children were there and appear to be included in the ceremony. You’ll note, when Ben and JLo got married in Vegas, Ben’s daughter Violet was apparently not there and there were some people trying to rumour that it was out of “loyalty” to her mother, Jennifer Garner. Violet has since familymooned with Ben and JLo and has been seen several times spending time with JLo and her kids. So this, clearly, isn’t an issue which…is the ideal, right? It doesn’t always work out that way but it’s what you hope can happen when families blend. 

And same goes for Jennifer Garner who was seen shopping in West Virginia with her boyfriend John Miller at around the exact time of Bennifer’s wedding – see here for photos. Coincidence or conspiracy? Whatever it is, she’s not missing out and I can’t imagine she’s bitter either or shady. Probably the opposite. As in… 

For a long time, she would have probably had to take on a LOT because of Ben. And now Jennifer Lopez is in his life. Which might actually relieve a LOT for Jennifer Garner. In that sense, Jennifer Garner actually wants this marriage to last more than you might think.