TODAY   |  May 20, 2012

Facebook founder gets married

Capping a week in which his Internet company went public and made him billions, Mark Zuckerberg tied the knot with his longtime girlfriend. NBC’s Veronica De La Cruz reports.

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>>> he's gone from opening bells to wedding bells . in a silicon valley surprise -- to us, not him -- facebook ceo mark zuckerberg got married on saturday, just days after his company went public. kind of a good week for him. nbc's veronica de la cruz has more. veronica, good morning.

>> hey, good morning to you, jenna. the wedding was a surprise to zuckerberg 's millions of followers and even to the guests invited to the young billionaire's home. the photo was poe posted on his own facebook page just after 6:00 p.m . pacific time saturday. mark zuckerberg 's relationship status had changed, and now he was married to his longtime girlfriend, priscilla chan . it was a simple ceremony in the backyard of zuckerberg 's palo alto home, and also a surprise. the 100 or so invited guests thought they were going to a party celebrating chan's graduation from medical school .

>> t's definitely outside the box, which seems actually pretty characteristic, so that's good, you know? that's silicon valley .

>> reporter: within hours of his marriage announcement, more than 400,000 friends "liked" the news. "congrats, zuck, big day , big week!" one wrote. a big week indeed for a guy who just turned 28 last monday and became a $20 billion man by taking the social network he invented nine years ago in his dorm room public. in one othe most anticipated and biggest ipos ever. zuckerberg , who met chan when theyere both stunts a harvard, had always said facebook would be the way people would connect in the digital age. this week, with nearly 1 billion users, he said the same thing.

>> i think it ends up being a very clear picture of the importance of what happens in a person's life.

>> now, according to guests at the wedding, the menu included dishes from one of the couple's favorite local sushi restaurants and chocolates like they ate on their first date. as for the ring, word is zuckerberg designed it himself and it featured a very simple design. so he's worth billions, and on top of it all, he married a doctor.

>> i wonder if "very simple ruby" is code for a