Holmes is where the heart is for Tom
The guest list read like a Who’s Who of Hollywood as Cruise and Holmes tied the knot in Bracciano on Saturday.
There were fireworks inside and out as the couple sealed their vows with a “never-ending kiss”.
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 couple flew out of Rome yesterday morning for a honeymoon in the Maldives, said Ciampino airport spokesman Adriano Franceschetti.
The rest of the wedding party was due to fly to Los Angeles later last night.
The evening wedding ceremony 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 the lakeside town as the couple and guests gathered for the ceremony in the town about 27 miles northwest of Rome.
Suri, dressed in white, arrived in her mother’s arms.
The wedding party included Cruise’s children, Isabella and Connor, from the actor’s previous marriage to Nicole Kidman. The best man was Cruise’s best friend David Miscavige and the matron of honour was Holmes’s 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 said that Cruise, then Holmes, walked down a stone ramp lined with flag bearers in medieval costumes 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.
Other famous guests included Brooke Shields, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Jim Carrey.
Holmes was giving Cruise a Vacheron Constantin watch engraved simply: “I Love You” as a wedding gift.
Hundreds of the town’s residents braved the rain to catch a glimpse of the stars.
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