Zuckerberg’s Surprise Wedding
Mark Zuckerberg may have not worn a suit to meet with investors in New York, but at least he ditched his hoodie for his own wedding.
In a move that was a surprise even to the wedding guests, the Facebook founder and CEO married his longtime girlfriend Priscilla Chan on Saturday in the backyard of their Palo Alto, California home. Just a day after the much-hyped Facebook IPO, the couple invited fewer than 100 friends and family for what was ostensibly a party for Chan, 27, who had graduated from medical school at the University of California at San Francisco on May 14 (which was coincidentally Zuckerberg’s 28th birthday). But in a bait-and- switch move, the couple announced that the party was actually a wedding only after the guests had arrived.
Although none of the guests are talking to the media, some details did leak out about the bride’s dress and the low-key meal that was served. There’s been no word at all on who presided at the ceremony, or whether there was a chuppah involved.
Commentators are noting how smart Zuckerberg was to pull off a stunt like this in order to prevent advance publicity. They are also wondering whether there was a prenuptial agreement involved. “Reps for Zuckerberg didn’t respond to requests for comment, but anyone worth $19 billion who gets married in a community property state would be an idiot not to have a prenup. Zuckerberg, love him or hate him, is no idiot,” The Reliable Source wrote in the Washington Post.
Zuckerberg and Chan, having met as undergraduates at Harvard, have been dating for nine years. Chan is planning to go into pediatrics, and she reportedly inspired her now-husband to promote organ donation on Facebook.
So if this wedding was such a secret, how did we all find out about it? Naturally, it was because Zuckerberg changed his relationship status to “married to Priscilla Chan” on his Facebook page. The post garnered hundreds of thousands of “likes” in mere minutes. As of Monday morning, it has 1,064,181 “likes” and 743 comments, including many “Mazel tov”s.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30