Inside Beyonce Knowles & Jay-Z's Wedding

A host of big-named stars attended the wedding of Beyonce Knowles and Jay-Z this weekend, including Destiny’s Child bandmates Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams, and hip-hop bigshots Pharrell Williams and Kayne West.

Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and husband Chris Martin of Coldplay fame also partied at the ceremony in New York on Friday, alongside Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter’s mother Gloria, and the Crazy In Love singer’s parents Tina and Matthew, and younger sister Solange.

The wedding party in the rap mogul's luxury New York penthouse apartment in the TriBeCa area of the city featured a marquee which had been erected on a terrace at the building.

The marquee was decorated with five-foot tall candelabras and 60,000 elegant white orchids, which had been flown in from Thailand at a cost of $500,000 (£250,000).

The wedding reception was reportedly attended by more than 200 guests, including producer/music mogul Jermaine Dupri and his girlfriend Janet Jackson, R&B singer Usher, rapper Wyclef Jean, and Knowles' Dreamgirls co-stars Jennifer Hudson and Jamie Foxx.

The low-key wedding celebration was exactly what the couple had in mind.

On Friday, the source told People: "It happened earlier this evening. Jay wanted it to be a really private affair - close friends and family."

But the newlyweds, who have been dating since 2002, will not have time for a honeymoon just yet - Carter is currently in the middle of a North American tour with hip-hop/soul queen Mary J. Blige.

Instead, the couple is reportedly set to celebrate their nuptials at a luxury $8,000 (£4,000)-a-night hotel on the Caribbean island of Anguilla later this year.