Jennifer Lopez's second wedding to Ben Affleck, the man she describes as the love of her life, took place more than five months ago now, but when we meet her to talk about her latest romcom, Shotgun Wedding, she’s clearly still on a high.
Within minutes our conversation turns to the Oscar-winning actor and the glowing star reveals he had organised every detail of their first ceremony.
Singer and actress Jennifer, 53, tied the knot with 50-year-old Ben not once but twice last year – in Las Vegas in July and then again at his mansion in Riceboro, Georgia, in August – and she proudly tells us her man did an "amazing" job of arranging their Vegas vows.
"He has an amazing eye and incredible taste," she says, "and I think that's why we ran off to Vegas! It took all the pressure off the big family wedding that we were having. But everything we do, we try to do it together. He planned the whole Vegas wedding."
However, Jen didn’t let her new husband take control of arranging their second celebration, which was a much bigger affair with all their friends and family present.
She says, "The big party, we did together. Planning a wedding is a lot. It’s a very stressful job, as you can see from this movie."
The film in question is centred around Jen's character Darcy and Tom, played by Josh Duhamel – a couple trying to gather their families for a destination wedding who come a cropper when the entire party gets taken hostage.
Jen tells us, "There's so much that happens. But the core of it is about these families coming together and my character Darcy and Josh's character Tom are really figuring out who they are, how they’re going to make this marriage work – and if they can make this marriage work.
"They start off at very different ends of the spectrum on what they want. Not just from this wedding but from their relationship. But along the way, with all of the things that they have to go through, which are outrageous and crazy, they really do discover each other."
If anyone knows about the course of true love never running smoothly, it's J.Lo. As fans will know, she and Ben met in 2001 on the set of Gigli and were dubbed "Bennifer" as their romance blossomed. They got engaged in 2002 but postponed a planned 2003 wedding, citing "excessive" media attention, and then split in 2004.
However, time is a great healer and if anything, the Hustlers star is more grateful than ever for their love, having known what it was like to lose it. She says, "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."
During their time apart, Ben married actress Jennifer Garner, with whom he shares children Violet, 17, Seraphina, 14, and Samuel, 10, while Jen – who had previously had short-lived marriages to Ojani Noa and Cris Judd – had 14-year-old twins Max and Emme with her third husband, Marc Anthony.
It's clear their children are hugely important to them and devoted mum Jen has said of their wedding day, "We weren’t only marrying one another; we were marrying these children into a new family."
It all sounds idyllic, which unfortunately can’t be said for her character Darcy, who has to cope with her dad inviting her ex to her wedding.
Luckily, in real life, the actress tells us she can’t imagine such a thing happening.
Jen says, "I would like to think my dad wouldn't do that. But we needed that in the movie. We needed something to happen.
"I don’t think my dad would ever do that. Ever. I mean, he's just my dad. My dad in real life is the quiet, calm dad. He doesn’t ruffle feathers."
And while Jennifer wore three different Ralph Lauren gowns at various stages of her big day, Darcy isn’t so fortunate in the style stakes.
"I really felt like the [wedding] dress itself was a character in the movie but it also really represented what she was going through," Jennifer tells us. "So I wanted it to start off with her being super-uncomfortable. It was the biggest, most cumbersome, kind of beautiful but also like not-her-at-all dress.
"And then, as she went on, she was more honest about who she was and what she wanted, and started peeling back the layers and becoming more herself, and kind of stepping into her own kind of power or more authenticity."
But while Jen is clearly passionate about her latest project, it’s clear her family comes first and she wants to savour every moment of happiness now she’s been given a second chance.
She says, "This is the best time of my life.
"I love my career but nothing is more fulfilling to me than being able to build a family with someone I love deeply and who is just as dedicated to family and to each other as we can be. I feel incredibly blessed."
Shotgun Wedding is out on 27 January, Prime Video
