Six Years and Finally Married

After years of speculation, singer Beyonce Knowles wed her longtime boyfriend, rapper Jay-Z, on Friday, a friend of the couple's tells PEOPLE. Though there is no official confirmation, the friend says, "It happened earlier this evening. Jay wanted it to be a really private affair – close friends and family."

The ceremony was followed by a lavish party at the rapper's Tribeca apartment that drew Beyoncé's mother Tina Knowles, her father/manager Mathew, her sister Solange, her Destiny's Child mates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, and the couple's friend Gwyneth Paltrow.The wedding buzz began when the couple got a marriage license (which I wrote a blog about) at a village hall in Scarsdale, N.Y. DJ Cassidy, a favorite of Jay-Z, was hired to spin. "Cassidy mentioned a week ago that he was really excited for Jay Z and Beyoncé's wedding party to happen," says another source. Early Friday morning, workers put up a white tent atop the building in Tribeca, where Jay-Z owns a penthouse apartment. Not long after, an SUV carrying what seemed to be AV equipment arrived, followed by deliveries of party rentals and flowers. A source tells PEOPLE that Amy's Orchids was hired to provide 50,000 to 60,000 white orchid blooms from Thailand for a "big party." At the apartment, waiters were seen practicing their service.

A couple since 2002, Jay-Z, 38, and Knowles, 26, always kept quiet about their relationship, even as they were photographed together on romantic holidays around the world. Still, marriage seemed to be in the cards… eventually. "I never pictured myself as a bride," Beyonce told Cosmopolitan in January 2006, "but after my sister's wedding, I did start thinking about what kind of wedding I'd want. I don't think I want a big one."

We are not 100 percent positive that the wedding happened but I think we are 98 percent positive. I mean people close to the couple said they were getting married so why would they make it up? I think it is cool that the two love birds have kept their romance on tight wraps because they are never in the tabloids and nothing bad is written about them. Once you are involved in a high profile relationship and the paparazzi find out, they try to bring you down. So whatever works for these two.