VENICE, Italy — George Clooney married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin Saturday, the actor’s representative said, out of sight of pursuing paparazzi and adoring crowds.
A smiling Clooney traveled up the spectacular Grand Canal to his wedding standing coolly aboard a water-taxi, waving to hundreds of well-wishers on shore and a flotilla of photographers chasing a glimpse of his final moments of bachelorhood.
With the pink sunset casting a gleam on Venice’s most picturesque canal, Clooney rubbed his hands in sweet anticipation and disappeared into the luxury Aman hotel’s tent-covered pier, where celebrity friends including Cindy Crawford and Matt Damon had passed moments earlier.
The bride was nowhere to be seen.
Clooney’s longtime representative Stan Rosenfield announced in one sentence some 2 ½ hours later that the wedding had taken place. It’s expected to be the only communication on the much-anticipated marriage of the actor who long reigned as Hollywood’s most-eligible bachelor.
Clooney and friends had coolly sipped champagne before at the five-star Cipriani hotel before forming a procession to the Aman that included Damon, Crawford, her husband Rande Gerber and Bill Murray from the five-star Cipriani hotel opposite St. Mark’s Square up the Grand Canal to the luxury Aman Hotel.
Crawford wore a purple floor-length halter dress; Clooney and the other men were all dressed in tuxedos.
En route, Clooney’s boat was momentarily blocked by a passing cruise-liner and then by a water bus, giving time for dozens of boats carrying photographers to catch up. A police boat swerved in vain to try to keep the paparazzi away.
The star, standing in front of the taxi, maintained his ever-relaxed demeanor and waved to hundreds of people who crowded the arched Accademia bridge, canal banks and passing water taxis to see the Hollywood star before he took the plunge he long vowed never to take.
Alamuddin was last seen publicly on Friday riding a water-taxi down the Grand Canal with Clooney’s arm resting comfortably around her.
Clooney, 53, and Alamuddin, 36, who were engaged in April, have not publicly divulged details of the weekend-long celebrations — leaving plenty open to speculation.