Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Tom Cruise

A watch for the groom
When the groom drove up, Holmes watched from a castle window and anxiously gestured with her hand. Holmes was giving Cruise a Vacheron Constantin watch engraved simply, “I Love You,” as a wedding gift, the company said. It said she bought the gift in Los Angeles last week.

As the sun began to set, candles were placed in pots along the road to the castle and in some of the windows. Men wearing tuxedos and women holding up the hems of their long gowns walked up the steep path to the castle.

Security was tight, with Carbinieri paramilitary police patrolling the walls of the castle and all vehicles banned from the center of Bracciano.

The flag of the Odescalchi family, whose ancestors include Benedetto Odescalchi, the 17th century pope Innocent XI, fluttered over the castle’s towers.

Thousands brave rain for a glimpse
“When I first walked here, I didn’t know why they chose this place,” said Emily Roeder, 19, of Atchison, Kan., who came to Bracciano for the day from Florence, where she is studying. “Then I saw the castle and the streets all around, and it’s really romantic.”

Hundreds of the town’s 14,000 residents and fans of the stars braved intermittent rain to catch a glimpse of the arrivals.

“I want to see at least one of them — even if it’s not Tom Cruise,” said 15-year-old Erica Bandiera.

“I want to see Beckham’s wife,” said her friend Luca Costanzi, 15, with a huge grin.

Holmes and Cruise became engaged in June 2005, about two months after they went public with their relationship, kissing and posing for photographers in Rome. Their daughter was born April 18.

Roller-coaster year for Cruise
Much of the attention given to Cruise since he jumped up and down on Oprah Winfrey’s couch proclaiming his love for Holmes has been negative. He was mocked for that episode, criticized for his comments about Shields and questioned about his embrace of Scientology, the religion founded by science-fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard that holds an opposition to psychiatry and related medication among its tenets.

In August, Paramount Studios severed its 14-year deal with Cruise’s film production company; Sumner Redstone, whose company owns Paramount Pictures, said “his recent conduct has not been acceptable to Paramount.” Earlier this month it was announced that Cruise and his producing partner, Paula Wagner, are taking over the Hollywood movie studio United Artists.

Scientology ceremonies contain many elements of traditional weddings, including rings and vows. But they also include certain Scientology fundamentals, including vowing never to go to bed without communicating about any differences.

A spokesman for the Church of Scientology for Rome, Fabrizio D’Agostino, said an exchange of vows with a Scientology rite was not legally recognized in Italy, and would have to be preceded or followed by a civil union.

The publicists said Cruise and Holmes had “officialized their marriage in Los Angeles prior to their departure for Italy,” saying that was customary for couples marrying outside the United States. Cruise’s publicist Arnold Robinson did not immediately reply to an e-mailed question about whether that meant they had been married in a civil ceremony.

Cruise, star of the “Mission: Impossible” series and “War of the Worlds,” was divorced from Kidman in 2001, was previously married to Mimi Rogers and had a high-profile romance with Penelope Cruz. Holmes, who starred in TV’s “Dawson’s Creek,” and last year in “Batman Begins,” had been engaged to Chris Klein.

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