After months of speculation on will they or won't they, actor Mahesh Babu and his long-time girlfriend Namratha Shirodkar tied the knot at an intensively private wedding in the plush Marriott Hotel.

The wedding, though with the consent of the Mahesh's parents and siblings who were originally said to be opposed to it, was held in the presence of close friends and relatives.

Apart from Mahesh's family (including Krishna, Vijaya Nirmala, Mahesh's sisters Padma and Manjula, their husbands), the one from Tollywood who attended the wedding was close friend Jayanth C Paranji and his wife Archie. Jayanth, if you remember, was the one instrumental in bringing Mahesh and Namratha together.

"I am delighted that I have finally got what I wanted most in life," Namratha said.

Mahesh as usual was not available for comment.

The marriage brings the curtains down on an affair that had almost kept film glossies in circulation for long. Ever since Mahesh and Namratha acted together Vamsi, they were reported to seeing each other.

Though many sections of the media, including Indiaglitz, had suggested that the marriage was very much a possibility, some of them later said that Mahesh had backed out at the last moment.

Some of them in fact had go as far to say that Namratha was sighted in Hyderabad in a forlorn state. The truth, as it happened, was Namratha was continuing to see Mahesh in Hyderabad. Namarath's close friends in Hyderabad include Amala Nagarjuna, Shalini Bhupal, G V Ramana Raksha and Jay Galla.

Mahesh, it is said, had postponed a decision on the marriage owing to family marriage.

But as Namratha said, "there was no family pressure whatsoever".

The duo that incidentally flew from Hyderabad to Mumbai for the hush-hush wedding will now fly to an undisclosed location for honeymoon.

Namratha has confirmed that they will settle down in Hyderabad. "But I will be flying in and out of Mumbai regularly".

A happy ending indeed to a gripping love story.