Mariska Hargitay certainly found stardom with her role as Olivia Benson in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, but she also found love.
Now she’s celebrating 18 years of happy marriage with fellow Law & Order: SVU actor Peter Hermann.
Hargitay took to Instagram to commemorate the event with two black and white photographs as well as a few words. The 58-year-old actress shared a throwback photo from the couple’s wedding day in 2004 and a more recent picture of the two.
In the first image, the two are all smiles as Herman embraced Hargitay at their wedding reception.
In the second, more recent snapshot, the two are cuddled up together while enjoying a boat ride on what looked to be a lovely day.
The actress’ caption for the social media post was simple and to the point: “Eighteen years. Grateful. In love. Together.”
The update garnered many likes–including one from American Horror Story actress Sarah Paulson–as well as an influx of comments from fellow Hollywood talent.
“😍 stunning,” commented Actress Priyanka Chopra.
While Never Have I Ever’s Poorna Jagannathan wrote: “My heart just stopped.”
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Hargitay and Hermann first met on the set of Law & Order: SVU, when Hermann first guest-starred as Trevor Langan during the show’s third season in 2002. His character continued to periodically show up over the years–most recently, in season 23.
One of the first things the couple connected over was religion, leading Hermann to suggest they attend church together.
Hargitay told InStyle that their time together in the church that day was when she felt that Hermann was the one, saying, “I just about passed out when I saw him there. I thought, ‘That’s my husband.'”
She was right. The two got married about two years later.
It worked out well, as Hargitay and Hermann are still happy together now, 18 years later. They also have three children–August, 16, Amaya, 11, and Andrew, 10.
Talking to PEOPLE about their 15th anniversary in 2019, Hermann credited laughter as a key reason for their continuing success.
He said: “I never thought I would have this much laughter in my life. Not just actual laughter, but also the way that Mariska is just the embodiment of laughter—of joy.”
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