Quietly, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie say, 'I do'

[August 29, 2014] By Eric Kelsey

(Reuters) - Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Hollywood's first couple, married in France over the weekend following a two-year engagement, ending nearly a decade of fevered tabloid speculation over whether "Brangelina" would ever tie the knot.

Pitt, 50, and Jolie, 39, were wed on Saturday in a small chapel at Chateau Miraval, the couple's estate in southeastern France, in a civil ceremony, according to a statement provided by publicist Martin Torres on Thursday.

The couple - whose long-rumored nuptials had been celebrity magazine and tabloid fodder and had sent reporters and photographers as far as India and Africa in search of possible "secret" ceremonies - wed much like they live: quietly and far removed from Hollywood's spotlight.

The power couple's six children, all under the age of 14, took part in the ceremony, the statement said.

The "Maleficent" star was walked down the aisle by eldest sons Maddox and Pax, while Zahara and Vivienne threw petals gathered from a garden. Shiloh and Knox were ring bearers.

"It was very much a family affair," the statement said.

Jolie and Pitt, who had said they hoped to wed once same-sex marriage was legal throughout the United States, were married under California law by a judge who traveled to France for the ceremony.

Jolie's father, actor Jon Voight, told U.S. TV entertainment program "Inside Edition," "That's nice," when informed about his daughter's wedding. Jolie and Voight were estranged for years but have reconciled.

FROM 'SMITH' TO MARRIED

Jolie and Pitt couple announced their engagement in April 2012, seven years after their relationship caught fire on the set of 2005 film "Mr. & Mrs. Smith."

They will star in an upcoming film "By the Sea," written and to be directed by Jolie, who will also co-produce the drama with Pitt.

Pitt has said they considered marriage because it meant a lot to their children.

As two of the most prominent and influential figures in the entertainment industry, Pitt and Jolie have taken on humanitarian causes as well as putting their muscle behind serious film.

Jolie, who won an Oscar for best-supporting actress in 2000 for "Girl, Interrupted," was appointed as a special envoy for refugee issues in 2011 after a decade as a goodwill ambassador for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.

Pitt, who co-produced the Oscar-winning drama "12 Years a Slave," started a foundation to help restore New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Jolie, who was previously married to actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton, has also become a voice for women's health issues. She underwent a double mastectomy last year in a preventative step prompted by her genetic disposition for breast cancer.

Pitt is divorced from actress Jennifer Aniston.

Gay marriage is legal in 19 of the 50 states and in Washington, D.C. More than 30 courts have ruled in favor of gay marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to take up the issue again in its coming term, which starts in October.

(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg and Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Mary Milliken and Jonathan Oatis)

[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.