Cruise, Holmes marry in Italian castle
From Maria Sanminiatelli

BRACCIANO—Officially, they got married in Los Angeles, but the spectacle of the wedding between Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes was here, in a 15th-century castle that evoked fairy tales and lit up with red, white and green fireworks for a cheering, celebrity-laden crowd.
There were fireworks inside, too, a “never-ending kiss” between the betrothed after they exchanged vows Saturday. The kiss lasted so long it caused guests to shout “stop, stop!” said Giorgio Armani, who attended the wedding and designed the outfits of the bride, the groom and their baby, Suri.
The ceremony was a lavish apex to perhaps the celebrity world’s most closely watched relationship, proclaimed with Cruise’s leap on Oprah Winfrey’s couch, bestowed with the nickname “TomKat” and raised to a new level seven months ago when Holmes gave birth to their daughter.
The evening wedding was performed by a Scientology minister in front of more than 150 relatives and friends, the couple’s publicists said. Oil-fed torches and tiny candles flickered from the battlements and windows of the Odescalchi castle in this lakeside town as the couple and guests gathered for the ceremony in the town about 45 kilometres (27 miles) northwest of Rome. Suri, dressed in white, arrived in her mother’s arms.
The wedding party included Cruise’s two children, Isabella and Connor, from the superstar actor’s previous marriage to Nicole Kidman, the publicists said in a statement. The best man was Cruise’s best friend David Miscavige and the matron of honour was Holmes’ sister Nancy Blaylock.
Holmes wore a black dress and boots before she changed into Armani’s off-the-shoulder ivory silk gown. Her father, Martin Holmes, walked her down the aisle and she carried a bouquet of flowers made by Armani including calla lilies.
Cruise, who sported dark shades and waved to fans as he rode through the castle gates in a van, wore a single breasted navy blue Armani handmade suit for the wedding, with an ivory silk French collar shirt of the same fabric as the bride’s gown.
Armani told newsmen that Cruise, then Holmes, walked down a stone ramp lined with flag bearers in medieval costumes and to the roll of drums. They exchanged vows in a former stable decorated simply with white flowers. “For the Americans this was very special, because Americans do not have this kind of thing back home, and they dream of such things in our beautiful country, and you can see the surprise and the awe on their faces,” said Armani, who also designed the clothes of the rest of the wedding party and the couple’s immediate family. Italian singer Andrea Bocelli serenaded the couple at the reception and the bride and groom cut a five-tiered white chocolate wedding cake. Fireworks later burst above the castle, but the view was marred by a foggy night.
Other famous guests included Brooke Shields, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Jim Carrey and Victoria Beckham, wife of soccer star David Beckham and former Posh Spice of the Spice Girls.
The two stars arrived separately to the castle earlier Saturday, with pouring rain forcing Holmes and her daughter to take shelter under large, green umbrellas as they left their limousine. The sun was shining on the castle when Cruise arrived in a van from Rome, where the family had been staying in a luxury hotel near the Spanish Steps, with some fans shouting, “Tom, Tom!”
When the groom drove up, Holmes watched from a castle window and anxiously gestured with her hand.
Holmes was giving Cruise a Vacheron Constantin watch engraved simply, “I Love You,” as a wedding gift, the company said. It said she bought the gift in Los Angeles last week. As the sun began to set, candles were placed in pots along the road to the castle and in some of the windows. Men wearing tuxedos and women holding up the hems of their long gowns walked up the steep path to the castle.
Security was tight, with Carabinieri paramilitary police patrolling the walls of the castle and all vehicles banned from the centre of Bracciano. The flag of the Odescalchi family, whose ancestors include Benedetto Odescalchi, the 17th century pope Innocent XI, fluttered over the castle’s towers.
“When I first walked here, I didn’t know why they chose this place,” said Emily Roeder, 19, an American who came to Bracciano for the day from Florence, where she is studying. “Then I saw the castle and the streets all around, and it’s really romantic.”
Hundreds of the town’s 14,000 residents and fans of the stars braved intermittent rain to catch a glimpse of the arrivals.