Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux tie the knot at secret birthday party

Birthday bashes, surprise parties and weddings are no new thing in Hollywood but Friends stars Jennifer Aniston and Justin Theroux had a surprise wedding. Yes you read that right! The couple invited celebrity friends for a birthday party on Wednesday and surprised them all by getting married!

According to TMZ, Jen told friends she was throwing a surprise 44th birthday bash for Justin. "Guests were told it was a birthday party for Justin," TMZ quoted a source as saying. "Jen and Justin wanted to surprise guests and guests were certainly surprised."



All the preparations were being made secretly until on Wednesday afternoon a wedding cake was spotted being transported into the house. The cake had a couple of muppet-like characters -- male and female -- on the top drew attention and raised speculation.
The second thing that struck odd was when a pastor with bible in hand was seen walking into the house.

PHOTO: TMZ

It is also reported that the phones of the staff were confiscated all week, and no parking was allowed near the property. Jennifer went to great lengths to keep everything under wraps; a giant shed was built over the past week to hide all the furniture and party supplies -- which were set up in the backyard yesterday afternoon.

As reported by People, a large wooden deck was set up in the couple's backyard for the celebration. It was filled with cozy nooks for lounging as well as elegant seating arrangements for 74 festooned with low, casual ottomans. A raised stage on one end, and a bar on the other, flanked the intimate setup.

PHOTO: PEOPLE

The couple exchanged vows in front of more than 70 family members and friends. The guests who attended the surprise-birthday-wedding included Friends pals Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow, as well as Chelsea Handler, Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky Stern, Jason Bateman, Emily Blunt and John Krasinski, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, Will Arnett, Tobey Maguire and Jennifer Meyer, Lake Bell and Scott Campbell, Terry Richardson, Jimmy Kimmel, Billy Crudup, Sia, Kathryn Hahn and Whitney Cummings.

PHOTO: TMZ

PHOTO: TMZ

PHOTO: TMZ

Aniston, 46, and Theroux, 43, got engaged in August 2012 after dating for over a year. The couple first met on the set of Tropic Thunder in Hawaii in 2008.

"We were friends for seven years. I replay when I met him then, but he wasn't a boyfriend," Aniston said. "It's funny to replay it because we weren't even anywhere in each other's realms of possibility."



The two also co-starred in 2012's Wanderlust and were first romantically linked in May 2011.