On Saturday, noted Harvard dropout and Facebook founder Mark E. Zuckerberg changed his relationship status to “married,” after tying the knot with Priscilla Chan ’07, his longtime girlfriend.

The news created a media frenzy that drew attention away from one of the largest IPOs in history. Zuckerberg and Chan met during their time at Harvard, before he had created Facebook. The couple dated for nine years before marrying the day after Zuckerberg took Facebook public.

Zuckerberg and Chan kept their plans to marry a secret, choosing to reveal the information by publishing a life event on his Facebook page titled “Married Priscilla Chan.” The update was accompanied by a photo of the two holding hands. Zuckerberg wore a suit and tie in lieu of his iconic hoodie while Chan wore a lace white wedding gown.

The couple reportedly invited fewer than 100 people to their home under the guise of a celebration of Chan’s recent graduation from the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. But the guests soon learned that they had been invited to a wedding instead.

“It’s good for him that he could maintain a life that was not completely public,” said Max Wang ’13, who interned for Facebook last summer.Zuckerberg reportedly designed Chan’s wedding ring himself, which featured a simple ruby, according to the Huffington Post.

The food at the wedding was reportedly catered by the couple’s favorite local sushi restraurant. For dessert, the couple served mice shaped chocolates from LA Burdick, the very sweets that they had eaten together on their first date in Harvard Square.

Some thought it was only a matter of time until the two were wed.“I am not at all surprised that they got married,” said Erica A. Sheftman ’12, who worked as a communications intern at Facebook last year.

“You could tell that Mark had a lot of respect for her,” said Wang.Back in the early years of Facebook, The Crimson managed to capture a few early moments between the now-married couple.

“‘Hey Priscilla, do you want a job at the facebook?,” Zuckerberg asked in a 2005 Crimson article. Chan responded favorably, reportedly offering him a Twizzler.

—Staff writer David W. Kaufman can be reached at davidkaufman@college.harvard.edu.