Beckham misses Cruise's big day

Footballer David Beckham was forced to pull out of the celebrity wedding of the year tonight as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes finally married.

His wife Victoria had to represent the couple after he returned to Spain for a Real Madrid match he did not even play in.

His absence came after reports that the £100,000-a-week player would be ordered back to the ground despite being ruled out of the side by injury.

The Beckhams had landed together in Rome yesterday for the wedding at nearby Bracciano.

A spokesman for the couple said he was given permission by the club to attend a pre-nuptial dinner with Cruise and his bride but had to fly back this morning for training and treatment on his injured knee.

“He will not be returning to Rome tonight,” said a spokesman.

Meanwhile Cruise and Katie exchanged vows in front of a host of other A-list stars including Brooke Shields, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Jim Carrey and Will Smith.

The Scientology ceremony was held at a 15th-century Italian lakeside castle in Bracciano amid tight security and was followed by a lavish reception.

The bride and groom wore outfits by Giorgio Armani for the wedding and the actress gave her husband a Vacheron Constantin watch engraved simply “I Love You”.

Holmes wore a fitted off-the-shoulder bridal gown with a train in ivory silk cadis adorned in Valenciennes lace and Swarovski beaded crystal embroidery, and Cruise also wore a handmade, Armani tuxedo.

Cruise publicist Arnold Robinson said the ceremony was performed by a Scientology minister before more than 150 relatives and friends.

The newlyweds are both Scientologists and weddings within the religion are said to often include a reminder to the groom to provide the bride with “clothes and food and tender happiness and frills, a pan, a comb, perhaps a cat“.

Elements of a traditional ceremony are present like exchanging rings and vows.

But they also include certain Scientology fundamentals like vowing never to go to bed without communicating about any differences.

Italian singer Andrea Bocelli performed a song for the newlyweds following their nuptials.

Throughout the day a fleet of cars ferried the celebrities to the castle past hundreds of local residents and as many media camped in the Italy town.

After a whirlwind romance the couple got engaged in June last year at the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In September they showed off their new baby Suri, scotching rumours that their relationship was a publicity stunt.

But Cruise, 44, found his declarations of love for Holmes, 26, backfired when he was sacked by Viacom boss Sumner Redstone, who accused him of “creative suicide” with his outlandish behaviour.

The Hollywood megastar has been married twice before, to Mimi Rogers and Nicole Kidman, with whom he adopted two children.

A spokesman for the Church of Scientology for Rome, Fabrizio D’Agostino, said an exchange of vows with a Scientology rite was not legally recognised in Italy, and would have to be preceded or followed by a civil union.

Bracciano Mayor Patrizia Riccioni said her office had not received a request to celebrate a civil wedding.