In general, it would be a massive mistake to show up to someone’s wedding in white, unless you’re the bride, of course.
But it looks like Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s wedding went all cream, raw and white.
Pictures from the lavish wedding reception at Affleck’s plantation-style estate in the US state of Georgia reveal a strict dress code for guests, with every thread covered in snow.
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But when they walked down the aisle for the second time, the two were legally married earlier in Las Vegas, there were two notable absentees, his brother Casey Affleck and ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
Casey Affleck was spotted on a Starbucks run in Los Angeles on Saturday morning, just hours before the older Affleck tied the knot with Lopez on the other side of the country, Page Six reported.
Paparazzi seemed surprised to see the younger Affleck getting coffee, with one even asking, “Why aren’t you in Georgia right now?”
A clearly uncomfortable Casey, 47, mumbled an unintelligible response that sounded like he was saying, “I’ve got other things,” before walking away.
The famous siblings have always had a supportive relationship, both personally and professionally.
In 2007, Casey starred in the film Gone Baby Gonewhich was directed by Ben, who is now in his 50s. More than a decade later, she praised a “brave” Ben for checking into rehab.
While it’s not immediately clear if Casey will manage to fly across the country in time for the couple’s second set of vows, many other family members and friends made it to Savannah in plenty of time.
Affleck’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner also did not attend the wedding.
Garner, who was married to Affleck from 2005 to 2018 and is the mother of his three children, has no bad blood for Bennifer 2.0, but instead said the issue was a scheduling conflict.
Her children with Affleck, Violet, 16, and Seraphina, 13, and Sam, 11, are expected to attend the celebration this weekend at the actor’s estate in Riceboro, Georgia.
“Jennifer Garner is working hard on a project in Texas and won’t be attending the wedding celebration, but she’s been totally supportive of her kids and generally very positive about everything,” a source told Hollywood Life.
“Nothing is more important to her than her children’s happiness, so the fact that they feel welcome and comfortable and have bonded with JLo and her children is the best thing she could ask for.”
Security was tight at the entrance to Hampton Island in Georgia on Saturday before the ceremony as busloads of guests began arriving for the celebrations at their plantation-style estate.
Matt Damon and his wife were spotted landing on a private jet at a nearby airfield while longtime friend Kevin Smith was snapped at the airport.
A stream of white buses carrying guests headed to the secluded estate around 5pm local time for the nuptials, which were reportedly scheduled for 6pm.
The choice to hold the wedding at Affleck’s Georgia estate has raised eyebrows, given its association with America’s dark past.
Affleck previously tried to sell his sprawling “imitation” Greek Revival plantation three years after revelations surfaced that one of his ancestors was a slave-owning Georgia sheriff.
In 2015, the Hollywood actor tried to suppress details about Benjamin Cole, a relative on his mother’s side who owned several slaves in Chatham County, near his 87-acre Hampton Island estate. Affleck reportedly bought the property in 2003.
The revelations about Cole were made in docuseries Finding your roots organized by Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Affleck put the lavish property, which includes a deep-water marina and a 6,000-square-foot home known as “the Big House,” on the market for $8.9 million in 2018. He lowered the price to 7.6 millions of dollars. the following year before taking it off the market, property records show.
Built in 2000, the property was designed by Atlanta architect James Strickland to resemble a Southern plantation. It also includes a 10,000 square foot guest house and equestrian facilities.
Actors Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds caused controversy when they got married in a plantation-style home. A slavery expert said he was surprised that Affleck and Lopez decided to have such a lavish wedding in a plantation-style home.
“When he found out who his ancestors were, he tried to suppress it,” Leslie Harris, co-editor of Slavery and Freedom in Savannah and a history professor at Northwestern University, he said.
“Clearly he didn’t learn his lesson. Let’s go back to the same place with him. People still build plantation-style houses. It’s a sign of wealth. It’s surprising that Affleck chose this place for his wedding when many [historic] the plantations have even stopped holding weddings.”
There were over 46,000 plantations in operation in 1860 in the American South, and nearly 4 million enslaved people in the US, with 2.5 million in the “Cotton Belt” alone. Currently, there are about 375 plantation museums in the US, most of which do not hold weddings, according to one report.
Many major wedding companies have taken steps to distance themselves from plantation locations.
In 2019, several wedding planning sites, including Pinterest, The Knot, and Zola, pledged to stop promoting plantation weddings and use language that romanticizes them.
Affleck said he fell in love with the area while filming Forces of Nature with actor Sandra Bullock in the late 1990s. He bought the property for $7.11 million, according to public records.
This article was originally published on Page Six and is reproduced here with permission