Stars arrive in Venice for Clooney wedding

Family and friends of george Clooney and Amal Alamuddin gather in the Italian city ahead of the couple's nuptials.

George Clooney and his fiancee Amal Alamuddin. Luigi Costantini / AP Photo

George Clooney once vowed he would never marry again. And for more than two decades, the actor’s love life has been tabloid fodder as he carried on romances with a series of models and actresses, a cocktail waitress, an Italian starlet and a former professional wrestler – before meeting his match in the British-Lebanese human-rights lawyer Amal ­Alamuddin.

Now, less than five months after their engagement was announced, the couple are marrying this weekend in a celebrity-studded wedding extravaganza in Venice.

It has not been reported whether Michelle Pfeiffer has called Clooney on his US$100,000 (Dh367,000) bet that he would, indeed, never marry again following his four-year marriage to Talia Balsam, which ended in 1993.

Venice is perhaps a natural setting for Clooney’s wedding. The star owns a villa on Lake Como north of Milan, feels at home in Italy and is a frequent visitor to Venice, often to promote his films at the Venice Film Festival.

While the Venetian waterways offer stunning views of the city’s Byzantine and Renaissance architecture, its system of islands also permits privacy and easily restricted access.

Clooney and Alamuddin arrived in Venice by bus on Friday accompanied by a small group of guests who included the groom’s parents, as well as Cindy Crawford and her husband. A clutch of photographers greeted them, and the couple obligingly smiled and posed.

They were met by Clooney’s regular water-taxi driver, who piloted the group along the picturesque Grand Canal lined by stunning palazzi, including the one in which the couple are to be married in a civil ceremony tomorrow.

Clooney and his bride stood outside during the water-taxi ride, his arm around her as they were conveyed along the most famous of Venice’s canals on a boat fittingly named Amore. He waved to well-wishers as they passed under the famed Rialto Bridge.

The water journey ended at the luxurious Cipriani hotel, Clooney’s usual residence when in Venice, on an island opposite St Mark’s Square.

Clooney, 53, and Alamuddin, 36, have not revealed the details of the wedding celebrations, leaving plenty open to speculation.

Venice city officials have announced the closure of a 50-meter street along the Grand Canal where the 16th-century Cavalli Palace is located for two hours tomorrow for the Clooney nuptials. The media have speculated that the couple would have two ceremonies – one yesterday followed by a civil ceremony tomorrow.

The arrival of other celebrities in Venice on Friday indicated star-studded festivities were in the making. Those spotted included Clooney’s cousin Miguel Ferrer, and the actors Matt Damon and Ellen Barkin.