At Angelina Jolie's wedding, her sons - not her dad - walked her down the aisle

Los Angeles (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 travelled to France for the ceremony.

Jolie's father, actor Jon Voight, told the American entertainment programme Inside Edition, "That's nice," when informed about his daughter's wedding.

Jolie and Voight were estranged for years but have reconciled.

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.

Jolie was previously married to actors Jonny Lee Miller and Billy Bob Thornton. Pitt is divorced from actress Jennifer Aniston.

Gay marriage is legal in 19 of the 50 states and in Washington, D.C.

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