It seems Ben Affleck's life has come full circle.
The Argo actor, who recently married Jennifer Lopez after they famously rekindled their romance last year, initially bought his sprawling, 35-hectare Georgia estate in 2003, when the couple were first dating.
It was reported at the time that they were planning to build a wedding chapel on the property, but that never happened, as the pair called off their first engagement in 2004.
Now, the couple chose the Hampton Island home, which is referred to as the Big House, as the location for their second wedding, a lavish affair that took place on Saturday.
Scroll through the gallery below to see photos of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck together over the years
It comes one month after their first and more spontaneous wedding in Las Vegas, during which Lopez wore a dress by Lebanese designer Zuhair Murad, following a rising trend of people hosting more than one wedding event, such as Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker, who also wed first in Sin City.
Affleck first purchased the property for $7.11 million. He then put it on the market in 2018 for $8.9m, cutting that by 15 per cent in 2019, to $7.6m, but he didn't end up selling it.
The mansion, about 45 minutes south of Savannah, is a re-creation of a Southern antebellum Greek Revival plantation home, according to the property listing by Engel & Volkers. It overlooks the North Newport River, "considered one of the Crown Jewels of Georgia's coast".
The two-storey house is spread over 6,000 square feet and has a veranda that looks over the river.
It comes with three bedrooms, four full bathrooms and one half-bathroom, a private deep-water dock that's home to a boat called Pilar, as well as historically accurate details such as 4.5-metre ceilings, arch fireplaces and pine floors.
Also part of the estate is the Summer Cottage, a single-storey home with a metal roof and prep kitchen that's built specifically for the owners to entertain during the summer.
Then there's the Oyster House, a 10,000-square-foot wooden property with three master suites and five bedrooms with bunk beds "salvaged from marine vessels".
The island it all sits on measures about 1,821 hectares and is also home to an equestrian centre, several cottages for members, a helipad, a farm area and two spas.
Watch the video below to see more of the house:
At the moment, it's awash with security, as the couple host their wedding celebrations among family and friends. Guards reportedly blocked the entrance to the enclave where Affleck’s estate is located, and a five-kilometre no-fly zone was implemented by authorities, reported The Daily Mail. Security boats were also spotted patrolling the nearby river.
The nuptials took place during a three-day weekend of festivities, with British-Indian life coach Jay Shetty, a former Hindu monk, officiating at the ceremony, for which Lopez wore a custom couture Ralph Lauren dress.
Guests included director Kevin Smith, who posted a photo of himself at the event, as well as Affleck's long-time friend, actor Matt Damon.
Affleck’s children — Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10, who he co-parents with ex-wife Jennifer Garner — were also there, alongside Lopez’s twins, Max and Emme, 14, who she shares with former husband Marc Anthony.
While the happy couple clearly decided the property was the perfect spot for their lavish ceremony, they have been house-hunting in Los Angeles for months. They were spotted in April touring The Manor, the 123-roomed Los Angeles mega-mansion built by TV mogul Aaron Spelling.
The Daily Mail reported that Lopez and Affleck toured the 56,500-square-foot property, which was said to be on the market for $165m, after their previous choice, a $55m home in Bel Air, fell through.
Built on the site of the home previously owned by the late White Christmas actor, Bing Crosby, The Manor was the childhood home of actress Tori Spelling.
Affleck and Lopez didn't buy the Spelling manor and it was later reported they'd purchased a massive Beverly Hills mansion that once sold for $60m. Now, however, they've said they're not buying a new place at all, and instead renovating Lopez's $28m Bel-Air home.
The pair, widely known as Bennifer, have married 20 years after they first started dating in 2002. They were engaged but broke up in 2004. In the years after, they both married other partners.
In May last year, they went public as a couple once again and announced their second engagement in April.
“Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient. Exactly what we wanted,” Lopez said in the newsletter.
The newsletter was signed “Mrs Jennifer Lynn Affleck".
THE BIO
Favourite author - Paulo Coelho
Favourite holiday destination - Cuba
New York Times or Jordan Times? NYT is a school and JT was my practice field
Role model - My Grandfather
Dream interviewee - Che Guevara
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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More coverage from the Future Forum
The biog
Hometown: Cairo
Age: 37
Favourite TV series: The Handmaid’s Tale, Black Mirror
Favourite anime series: Death Note, One Piece and Hellsing
Favourite book: Designing Brand Identity, Fifth Edition
Dubai World Cup factbox
Most wins by a trainer: Godolphin’s Saeed bin Suroor(9)
Most wins by a jockey: Jerry Bailey(4)
Most wins by an owner: Godolphin(9)
Most wins by a horse: Godolphin’s Thunder Snow(2)
Heather, the Totality
Matthew Weiner,
Canongate
Unresolved crisis
Russia and Ukraine have been locked in a bitter conflict since 2014, when Ukraine’s Kremlin-friendly president was ousted, Moscow annexed Crimea and then backed a separatist insurgency in the east.
Fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces has killed more than 14,000 people. In 2015, France and Germany helped broker a peace deal, known as the Minsk agreements, that ended large-scale hostilities but failed to bring a political settlement of the conflict.
The Kremlin has repeatedly accused Kiev of sabotaging the deal, and Ukrainian officials in recent weeks said that implementing it in full would hurt Ukraine.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Key features of new policy
Pupils to learn coding and other vocational skills from Grade 6
Exams to test critical thinking and application of knowledge
A new National Assessment Centre, PARAKH (Performance, Assessment, Review and Analysis for Holistic Development) will form the standard for schools
Schools to implement online system to encouraging transparency and accountability
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
The bio
Favourite book: Peter Rabbit. I used to read it to my three children and still read it myself. If I am feeling down it brings back good memories.
Best thing about your job: Getting to help people. My mum always told me never to pass up an opportunity to do a good deed.
Best part of life in the UAE: The weather. The constant sunshine is amazing and there is always something to do, you have so many options when it comes to how to spend your day.
Favourite holiday destination: Malaysia. I went there for my honeymoon and ended up volunteering to teach local children for a few hours each day. It is such a special place and I plan to retire there one day.
Uefa Nations League: How it works
The Uefa Nations League, introduced last year, has reached its final stage, to be played over five days in northern Portugal. The format of its closing tournament is compact, spread over two semi-finals, with the first, Portugal versus Switzerland in Porto on Wednesday evening, and the second, England against the Netherlands, in Guimaraes, on Thursday.
The winners of each semi will then meet at Porto’s Dragao stadium on Sunday, with the losing semi-finalists contesting a third-place play-off in Guimaraes earlier that day.
Qualifying for the final stage was via League A of the inaugural Nations League, in which the top 12 European countries according to Uefa's co-efficient seeding system were divided into four groups, the teams playing each other twice between September and November. Portugal, who finished above Italy and Poland, successfully bid to host the finals.
PRO BASH
Thursday’s fixtures
6pm: Hyderabad Nawabs v Pakhtoon Warriors
10pm: Lahore Sikandars v Pakhtoon Blasters
Teams
Chennai Knights, Lahore Sikandars, Pakhtoon Blasters, Abu Dhabi Stars, Abu Dhabi Dragons, Pakhtoon Warriors and Hyderabad Nawabs.
Squad rules
All teams consist of 15-player squads that include those contracted in the diamond (3), platinum (2) and gold (2) categories, plus eight free to sign team members.
Tournament rules
The matches are of 25 over-a-side with an 8-over power play in which only two fielders allowed outside the 30-yard circle. Teams play in a single round robin league followed by the semi-finals and final. The league toppers will feature in the semi-final eliminator.
