People: Sep. 22, 2003

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Maybe it was the flower girl who spilled their secrets. Or that malcontent Matt Damon. In any case, by the middle of last week Hollywood reporters seemed to know every detail of BEN AFFLECK and JENNIFER LOPEZ'S widely anticipated Santa Barbara, Calif., nuptials, from the barbecue rehearsal dinner to the hired decoy brides. And so the celebrity spectacle, a.k.a. Bennifer, felt compelled to issue a statement calling off the wedding. Because of "excessive media attention," it said, "we began to feel that the spirit of what should have been the happiest day of our lives would be compromised." Bennifer watchers speculated that the four-sentence press release was 1) a ploy to throw off the paparazzi while the pair elopes, 2) a sign of Affleck's cold feet or 3) legit. It may also be a way to postpone their probable divorce.