Cruise & Katie on honeymoon in Maldives

SantaBanta

The actor Tom Cruise and his third wife, Katie Holmes, were honeymooning in the Maldives today after getting married in a lavish ceremony in a castle in Italy at the weekend.

According to guests, the bride and groom and their seven-month-old baby wore Armani for the ceremony, which beganwith the former Top Gun star walking down a stone ramp lined with flag-bearers wearing medieval costume. Holmes, bearing a bouquet of white lilies, was escorted by her father.

The couple exchanged vows in a former stable in a Scientology rite not legally recognised in Italy but witnessed by 150 friends and family.

At the reception afterwards, in the 15th century Odescalchi castle near Rome, they were serenaded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and thousands of red rose petals cascaded down on them as they cut a wedding cake flown in from the US.

Guests included Brooke Shields, Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez, Jim Carrey and Victoria Beckham and the wedding ended with a fireworks display. The couple's publicist said afterwards that the couple had already ``legalised'' their marriage in Los Angeles.

Fans and residents of the lakeside town of Bracciano, where the event was held, had waited in vain to see a glimpse of the couple. The town's mayor said she was ``disappointed'' that after the inconveniences suffered by townspeople the couple had not thought to make a personal appearance before wellwishers.