George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin legally married in Venice
Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney and Lebanese-born human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin formalised their marriage in a civil ceremony in Venice on Monday (September 29), capping a star-studded weekend nuptial bash billed as the party of the year.
A procession of police and paparazzi-laden boats were on hand as the happy couple arrived at Venice's 14th-century Ca' Farsetti town hall.
The two, who married at a lavish, private party in the lagoon city on Saturday (September 27) night, spent about 10 minutes inside the city hall for a civil rite registering their marriage.
It was presided over by former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, a close friend and film buff.
The 36-year-old bride wore a snow-white pant suit with a cropped top and a wide-brimmed white hat with a black ribbon. The 53-year-old Clooney, until now considered the world's most famous bachelor, wore a light grey suit.
The couple arrived and left aboard a speedboat water taxi appropriately called "Amore". They waved and smiled at photographers in other boats and well-wishers on bridges along the Grand Canal.
The brief rite definitively ended the single status of the two-time Oscar winner who several years ago reportedly made a $100,000 bet with actress Michelle Pfeiffer that he would never remarry after his 1993 divorce from actress Talia Balsam.
Alamuddin, 36, and the Kentucky-born Clooney, who shot to stardom in the television series "ER", have been the toast of the lagoon city of canals and palaces since Friday (September 26), when they arrived for four days of festivities.
Alamuddin was rumoured to have prepared 12 outfit changes for the long weekend, during which guests were ferried around the city in speed-boats bearing small flags marked with "AG", for Amal and George.