Photo by: Gregorio Borgia / APTom Cruise and Katie Holmes are now husband and wife. The couple exchanged vows Saturday in a Scientology ceremony at the Odescalchi Castle in Lake Bracciano, Italy, their rep confirms to PEOPLE.
With a top-tier Hollywood guest list inside the castle, and thousands of fans, photographers and TV cameras watching from afar, Cruise and Holmes's wedding capped off a whirlwind week in Italy with their families and celeb friends. Joining them for the celebration: Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Brooke Shields and Chris Henchy, Victoria and David Beckham, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, and Jim Carrey and Jenny McCarthy, among others.
Saturday's wedding started on a damp note, with scattered rain throughout the morning. Holmes and 7-month-old daughter Suri were escorted into the castle under a cluster of green umbrellas. A little over an hour later, the groom was escorted from the Hassler hotel in Rome to Lake Bracciano 18 miles away. With the sun going down, candles lit up the perimeter of the 15th-century castle as limousines carrying the guests drove through the gates.
Fans and media were kept at a safe distance from the castle: Police checkpoints prevented anyone unauthorized from getting too close, and journalists were stationed in the nearby town square. (For complete coverage of the ceremony, check out PEOPLE's Tom & Katie Wedding Blog.)
Still, there might be one last hoop to jump through before their marriage is legal. Patrizia Riccioni, the mayor of Bracciano, Italy, told PEOPLE that the couple must be married in a civil ceremony in the town to make it official. As of Saturday evening, that hadn't happened yet. "Maybe they will have something official in the U.S.," she speculated.
Either way, Saturday's ceremony brought the couple's 19-month romance full circle: Cruise and Holmes first stepped out as a couple in Rome in April 2005, with Cruise already referring to Holmes as "amore mio" just a few weeks after their first date (sushi, a private plane ride and a motorcycle trip to the beach).
Holmes wasn't shy about her feelings either. "(I'm) totally in love. He's amazing, he's kind, he's generous. He made me laugh like I've never laughed," she gushed two months later. "I feel like he's made my life."
Life changed even more in mid-June 2005. During a late-night candlelit dinner at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Cruise proposed with a five-carat diamond ring. "I want to marry her as soon as possible," Cruise announced. "You have to do what you feel is right," he told PEOPLE at the time. "It's (about) your own integrity and how you want to live your life."
The pair had another reason to celebrate in October, when they announced they were expecting a baby. Holmes "almost seems born for motherhood," her pal and former Dawson's Creek costar Oliver Hudson told PEOPLE. "She's a nurturer."
The pair welcomed 7-lb., 7-oz. Suri on April 18. "The moment I looked in her eyes I felt like ... Mom," Holmes told the magazine of her new bundle of joy. "She's the miracle of our life."
Source: People.com
