Sheryl Sandberg and Tom Bernthal celebrated their marriage ceremony on Saturday at Path Creek Ranch in Jackson, Wyoming — and it was a weekend full of Western touches.

“Dive bars, nation music — that is all a brand new a part of my life, however I like it,” Sandberg tells PEOPLE in an unique interview at her dwelling within the Bay Space, three weeks earlier than the festivities. “It is actually enjoyable. I imply, I actually by no means did that a lot of stuff like this earlier than. I actually centered on working and being a mom.”

Together with her new husband an enormous fan of nation music and Western tradition, she says she acquired on board with a brand new expertise.

“He is getting married in denims and boots. I am embracing this!” says Sandberg, 52. “It is undoubtedly been a giant a part of our relationship. Tom undoubtedly made life much more enjoyable.”

“We each like it out West. We each love massive open areas. We acquired engaged on a ranch in the course of nowhere, and we had been in Jackson a few years in the past and sort of fell in love,” says Bernthal, 49, who wore Lucchese boots beneath slim-fit denims and a tuxedo jacket.

The bride wore Monique Lhiullier, off the rack, and became a shorter model for the reception. Although she deliberate to vary into cowboy boots herself, a last-minute zipper break threw a snag into these plans.

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Friends included Fb founder Mark Zuckerberg and his spouse Priscilla Chan; the groom’s brother, actor Jon Bernthal; tennis champ Serena Williams; Arianna Huffington; and Sandberg’s Possibility B co-writer Adam Grant.

“Tom and I met one another later in life — and meaning we convey to this relationship a lifetime of associates we every had in addition to some associates we have made collectively,” says Sandberg. “What occurred this weekend is that our associates grew to become associates and that was so particular.”

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Actress Jean Louisa Kelly sang Brad Paisley’s “Then” as Sandberg walked down the aisle — a track fastidiously chosen for its sentimental lyrics.

“The lyrics are about how ‘I assumed I beloved you then’ since you love the individual greater than you’ll be able to think about going ahead,” says Sandberg, who integrated the theme into her vows: “I imagine that years from now, I’ll look again to this second and marvel that I assumed I beloved you then.”

Friends dined on avocado tartlets, wagyu steaks and black cod. For dessert, there was Affogato and a chocolate-vanilla cake by Allure Metropolis Desserts, with coral and pink flowers to match the regionally sourced coral and pink dahlias that adorned the reception.

The couple shared a primary dance when their marriage ceremony band performed “Develop Outdated” by Florida Georgia Line, one other track alternative with deeply significant lyrics.

“How laborious is it to seek out somebody you wish to develop previous with the primary time, not to mention discover that once more?” Sandberg tells PEOPLE.

“I feel I felt fortunate all alongside,” she provides, “however I really feel even luckier as a result of now I do know what it’s to have that loss and have that absence.”

For Sandberg, whose late husband Dave Goldberg tragically died in 2015 whereas the couple had been on trip in Mexico, discovering love after loss was by no means one thing she felt was a assure.

“You possibly can’t even inform your closest associates, ‘someday I hope thus far once more,’ since you’re in mourning and you do not wish to assume that and perhaps individuals would decide. You are feeling, ‘Possibly I am disloyal for even serious about it,'” she says.

“I by no means wished to develop previous alone, and while you lose a partner abruptly, what you are dealing with is rising previous alone,” Sandberg provides. “And it is actually laborious.”

It was Dave’s personal brother Rob who first launched Sandberg to Tom, Rob’s longtime pal, in 2019.

“He stated, ‘How about my sister-in-law?’ And I sort of stated, ‘Effectively, positive. That sounds wonderful. However I would like any individual who’s attainable,'” Tom recollects.

For his or her first date on the Fb campus that April, “I needed to signal an NDA as a result of I used to be happening the Fb property and we had been collectively for 29 minutes,” Tom jokes.

However they hit it off. “In that first assembly we talked about loss of life and divorce,” he says, turning to Sandberg. “You had been so heat and maternal and curious and and attention-grabbing. We went fairly deep on that first date.”

Having Dave’s personal brother play matchmaker, “it is as near Dave’s blessing because it might probably have,” Sandberg says. “And Rob has stated, and has stated to my organic kids, ‘I picked him for you.'”

“I would like individuals to see there’s love after loss, love for us after loss of life, love for us after divorce,” she says.

Forward of the marriage festivities, the couple took a tenting journey with their mixed 5 children (because of safety issues, they don’t identify the youngsters nor present their faces).

“We simply noticed it as an opportunity for us to actually be with the children collectively,” Tom says.

“No connectivity!” provides Sheryl.

On the marriage ceremony itself, the 5 children all held necessary roles.

Consistent with the Jewish custom, they’d seven blessings, learn by the youngsters, with Sandberg’s former brother-in-law Rob studying the ultimate two. For the Jewish custom of the seven circles, “Tom’s going to circle me as soon as, I will circle him as soon as, after which the 5 children collectively are going to circle us one time,” Sandberg stated.

And the ladies of the household will every get a hoop to commemorate the event: Sheryl’s includes a solitaire stone flanked by 5 tiny diamonds to symbolize every little one, whereas every of their daughters can have a silver, gold and rose gold band with a stone of their alternative. The rings had been designed by Ron Rosenblum of XIV Karats in L.A.

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“We preserve saying, ‘We’re all getting married.’ And the children preserve saying, ‘You are getting married,'” Sandberg says, imitating her youngsters’ deadpan. “So I stated, ‘Effectively, our households are getting married.'”

Sandberg says the youngsters’s heat and enthusiasm was the spotlight of the night time.

“Every of them gave a toast about our household — not nearly their relationship with us, however about how shut they’re to one another,” she says. “It was actually touching for each of us to see the 5 of them standing up there as siblings.”

Elevating Cash for a Good Trigger

In lieu of items, the couple requested that friends donate to VOW and CARE to fund anti-child marriage applications and poverty alleviation efforts.

Sandberg acknowledges that whereas “we’re selecting to get married,” 1000’s around the globe are nonetheless pressured to marry as kids.

“We’re making donations ourselves,” she says, “but in addition inviting our friends to have fun with us and attempt to finish little one marriage.”

Thus far, the pair donated $1 million for VOW and $10 million for CARE, Sandberg tells PEOPLE.