Quite what the chaps behind holding hands made of it, or the young couple in front who’d driven for three hours to marry with Elvis’s blessing, we may never know.
But queuing for your wedding licence next to the biggest celebrity bounceback couple this century will make a story they can tell for ever.
Announcing her surprise Las Vegas wedding to Ben Affleck at the weekend, Jennifer Lopez described the other lovestruck couples who stood in line with her and her husband-to-be, saying “all of us wanting the same thing – for the world to recognise us as partners and to declare our love to the world”.
Marrying at The Little White Wedding Chapel, “Bennifer” were tying the knot almost two decades after cancelling their first planned nuptials.
The pair have starred in numerous romcoms, including two together, but their real-life love story turned out to be the greatest romantic comedy of all – with plenty of drama thrown in.
They have ridden a helter-skelter of personal highs and lows including failed marriages on both sides and five children between them.
But after marrying Ben, Jen wrote: “We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient.
"Twenty years patient. Stick around long enough and maybe you’ll find the best moment of your life in a drive through in Las Vegas at twelve thirty in the morning…”
The nuptials were a million miles – and dollars – from the do the couple first organised. Actress and singer Jen, 52, videoed herself beforehand in a classic white wedding dress “from an old movie”.
Actor Ben, 49, simply grabbed a jacket out of his wardrobe.
But Jen said the impromptu Vegas do (for which an Elvis impersonator wasn’t even available) was exactly what they wanted – brief wedding march played via Bluetooth and all.
There were few witnesses, seemingly just Jen’s mum, 14-year-old twins Emme and Max from her third marriage to singer Marc Anthony and Ben’s children Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10, from his previous marriage to actress Jennifer Garner.
It was about as understated as a Hollywood couple can get (pink convertible aside).
In contrast, their first big day would have reportedly hosted more than 200 guests in Santa Barbara, California, including Bruce Willis and Jack Nicholson, and cost more than £1.5million.
It was believed Jen would have worn a Vera Wang dress. Gift bags would have included mobile phones and designer handbags.
The announcement it wasn’t going ahead, just four days before, rocked the showbiz world. There were reports of Jen “hysterically crying” and she described the split as her “first real heartbreak”.
It seems part of them had always wanted the small Vegas do, even then.
A longtime friend and associate of Ben’s tells us: “In the 2000s there were several times they wanted to run off to Vegas and marry. But at the time there was an expectation they needed to have a big celebrity wedding.
“That is why choosing Vegas for this big day holds a special meaning.”
Bennifer’s first romance was certainly heated.
The couple met on the set of movie Gigli in 2002.
Jennifer was already with her second husband, dancer Cris Judd.
She had been brought up in New York’s Bronx to Puerto Rican immigrant parents and her brief first marriage was to Cuban waiter Ojani Noa in 1997.
A relationship with rapper Puff Daddy followed.
Never one for low-key public displays of affection, Ben took out a full-page advert in Variety magazine praising J.Lo when they got together.
Gigli flopped, but the couple flew. By July 2002, Jennifer had filed for divorce from Judd. But Bennifer’s Noughties relationship was played out in the glare of overexcited LA paparazzi camera flashes.
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Not that Bennifer – proud owners one of showbiz’s first blended names – had tried to stay low-key.
In November 2002, Ben starred in Jen’s music video for her track Jenny from the Block, canoodling on the deck of a yacht, stroking her famous bottom. Much later, he said he regretted it.
(In a strange synchronicity, last year Ben and Jen were pictured similarly on a yacht in Monaco.)
Their first engagement came the same month, a 6.1-carat pink solitaire diamond sealing the deal.
The stark wedding cancellation statement blamed the pressures of fame. They wrote: “When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate ‘decoy brides’ at three different locations, we realised that something was awry.”
Initially they claimed the nuptials were just delayed but three months later it was all over.
By June 2004, Jennifer was married to old friend Marc Anthony, later admitting she had wanted to “find someone who could make me feel loved and wanted in my loneliest hour”.
And by October, Ben was pictured with Alias actress Jennifer Garner, who he married in 2005.
While J.Lo would divorce again in 2011, he and Garner divorced in 2018. The Oscar-winner has been open about his battles with alcoholism, addiction and three stints in rehab. His associate says J.Lo helps him by taking a firm but compassionate “mother hen” stance.
He says: “She’s been like ‘I love you, I think you’re a great man, but stay sober and away from temptation’.
“And that’s how she’s run it since they got back together.”
Meanwhile, Jennifer battled more ups and downs, stepping into relationships with rapper Drake, younger choreographer Casper Smart, then New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
They got engaged in 2019 but that was abruptly called off early last year. Without pointing the finger, Jen has spoken about the devastation of being cheated on in relationships, saying: “You’re left to feel like you did something wrong. Like there’s something wrong with you.”
It was in April last year that rumours suggested Bennifer were back on. In June, they were snapped kissing. By July smitten Jennifer was wearing a “Ben” necklace.
They have said they always remained friends despite splitting up.
In April this year Jennifer announced a second proposal, this time with a giant green diamond – in the bath. She wrote she was struggling “to get my head around the fact that after 20 years this was happening all over again.”
After this weekend, she may still be.
This was, after all, the wedding “we dreamed of long ago”.
Perhaps not in razzmatazz, but most definitely in romance.
