Just this week, Anya Taylor-Joy surprised her fans by celebrating her second anniversary with husband Malcolm McRae.
Despite many believing they wed in Venice, Italy in October 2023, The Menu star revealed she had secretly tied the knot first in an intimate ceremony in New Orleans in April 2022.
However, secret celebrity weddings aren’t uncommon. Many stars choose to keep their proposals and subsequent vows private to preserve the happiest day of their lives.
Here, The Standard explores 12 celebrity couples who managed to keep their weddings under wraps and are still happily together as a result.
Beyoncé and Jay-Z have always valued their privacy, even when it comes to their 2008 wedding, which they kept low-key by exchanging vows in Jay’s TriBeCa apartment.
Rumours surfaced in September 2014 suggesting that the couple renewed their vows in a private ceremony after reports Jay-Z had been unfaithful.
2. Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz
Daniel Craig started dating actress Rachel Weisz when they starred together in flop Dream House.
Just a year later, they quietly exchanged vows in a secret ceremony in New York, with only four guests in attendance and kept tightly under wraps.
Their wedding was kept under wraps. The couple remains together and has a daughter named Ella, born in 2018.
3. Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker
Although Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker said ‘I do’ in front of their family and friends in Portofino, Italy.
Prior to their lavish nuptials at L’Olivetta, a villa owned by Dolce & Gabbana, the couple had not one but two other weddings.
In April 2022, the couple opted to marry at a Las Vegas chapel, keeping the event so confidential that even Kourtney’s family members were unaware until she announced it to her 214 million Instagram followers.
Reflecting on their spur-of-the-moment decision, she wrote: “Once upon a time in a land far, far away (Las Vegas) at 2 am, after an epic night and a little tequila, a queen and her handsome king ventured out to the only open chapel with an Elvis and got married (with no license).
“Practice makes perfect.”
4. Margot Robbie and Tom Ackerley
Barbie star and producer Margot Robbie married her longtime boyfriend Tom Ackerley in her native Australia back in 2016.
The ceremony was so secretive that even the attendees didn’t know the location in advance.
With only 50 guests present, the event was heavily guarded, with dozens of security personnel on-site. Phones and cameras were allegedly confiscated to maintain privacy.
Following rumours of their wedding, Robbie confirmed the news on Instagram shortly after, sharing a photo of her exquisite pear-shaped diamond ring.
5. Benji Madden and Cameron Diaz
Following a swift engagement, Cameron Diaz and Benji Madden exchanged vows in a secret ceremony at Cameron’s Beverly Hills residence in 2015.
The couple, who recently celebrated seven years of marriage, are parents to a four-year-old daughter, Raddix, in 2019 and welcomed their second, a son, Cardinal, in March.
6. Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher
Almost two decades after their first kiss on That ’70s Show, Kunis and Kutcher exchanged vows in a private ceremony during the Fourth of July weekend in 2015.
The intimate affair took place at the Secret Garden at Parrish Ranch in Oak Glen, California. Following the ceremony, the laid-back couple enjoyed a camp-themed reception where guests partook in outdoor games and lounged in luxury tents.
And news of their nuptials wasn’t confirmed until Kunis wore her wedding ring to The Late Late Show With James Corden months later. The couple welcomed daughter Wyatt in 2014, and son Dimitri in 2016.
7. Ed Sheeran and Cherry Seaborn
Singer Ed Sheeran married his childhood sweetheart, Cherry Seaborn, in January 2019 after rekindling their romance in 2015.
Fans had no idea the Grammy winner was even married until he referred to her as his “wife” in the lyrics to a track he released that same year, titled Remember the Name.
During an interview on the Table Manners podcast, Ed shared some insights into the intimate ceremony, revealing they exchanged vows and, “No one knew, no one came to it, we lit candles and we got married, then we went back and had a curry.”
8. Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds
Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds secretly tied the knot in September 2012 following a year-long whirlwind romance.
For their intimate ceremony, Lively reportedly donned a couture gown by Marchesa while the couple were said to have enjoyed an impromptu performance by Florence + the Machine.
While specifics about their wedding remain scarce, the couple has publicly expressed regret for choosing Boone Hall in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, as their wedding venue.
Boone Hall, a former plantation, is typically considered inappropriate and offensive for weddings due to its historical context.
In 2019, the couple, who have welcomed four children together, donated $2 million to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights.
9. Leighton Meester and Adam Brody
Fans were taken aback when news spread about Leighton Meester and Adam Brody’s clandestine wedding in Northern California in February 2014. The pair first met while working on when they starred in the 2011 film The Oranges together.
A source told E! News at the time: “Leighton and Adam got married in Northern California by the ocean a couple of weeks ago…it was a very small and intimate wedding with close family and friends. It was beautiful.”
The couple later welcomed their daughter Arlo in 2015, followed by a son in 2020.
10. Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem
Spanish stars Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem exchanged vows in a low-key ceremony in the Bahamas in 2010.
Their intimate wedding, held in a pal’s back garden, was attended only by close friends and family.
They are now proud parents of two children, son Leo, 12, and daughter Luna, 10.
11. James McAvoy and Lisa Liberati
In a February 2022 interview with The Guardian, James McAvoy disclosed he had secretly married Lisa Liberati.
The couple met in 2016 on the set of the horror film Split, where Liberati served as director M. Night Shyamalan’s personal assistant and began dating a few years later.
The outlet reported that the Scotsman declined to offer further comment “for fear of creating tabloid fodder.”
McAvoy was previously married to Anne-Marie Duff from 2006 to 2016, and they have a son named Brendan together.
12. Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck
A-list couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck surprised everyone in July 2022 when they wed in Vegas just before midnight on July 16.
“With the best witnesses you could ever imagine, a dress from an old movie and a jacket from Ben’s closet, we read our own vows in the little chapel and gave one another the rings we’ll wear for the rest of our lives,” Lopez wrote in her On the JLo newsletter, adding that the ceremony was “exactly what we wanted.”
The couple, who had a well-known relationship in the early 2000s but never married, reignited their romance in 2021 and got engaged in early 2022.