May-December lovers Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones will finally tie the knot tonight in a lavish November ceremony that’s been shrouded under a wedding veil of secrecy.
Douglas, 56, and Zeta-Jones, 31, have tried to keep details of the glitterati nuptials under wraps, as Hollywood-watchers have tried to glean details about what the bride will wear, whether the groom’s son will be best man – and which A-list celebs will watch them walk down the aisle.
“It’s like everybody’s wedding,” Douglas spokesman Allen Burry said. “This is a private affair . . . They’re not getting married for the media.”
But some observers noted the glitz-and-glam ceremony linking the Welsh lovely and the wrinkly Romeo – in front of 250 family and friends at The Plaza hotel, for a reported $2 million price tag – will be anything but private.
“You don’t get married at The Plaza hotel if you want a quiet, intimate wedding,” People magazine senior editor Larry Hackett said. “These guys are grabbing at old-fashioned glamour with both hands.”
When word spread that the couple’s rehearsal dinner was at the Russian Tea Room last night, a crush of media waited for the first-time bride-to-be and her once-divorced groom to show up.
“I’m nervous, I’m excited,” Zeta-Jones told reporters as the couple posed for pictures before going inside.
Douglas and Zeta-Jones got engaged in Aspen, Colo., on New Year’s Eve.
The raven-tressed temptress gave birth to the couple’s son, Dylan, in early August. The couple have asked their guests, in lieu of gifts, to write checks to a foundation for baby Dylan.
Cameron Douglas – the actor’s son from his marriage to ex-wife Diandra – is reportedly going to be dad’s best man.
But Burry denied reports that the 21-year-old – a deejay who was busted on drug-possession charges this year – will be spinning records.
Zeta-Jones is said to be flying dozens of her relatives in from her hometown of Swansea, Wales.
The wedding frenzy has even spread to Swansea, where pictures have surfaced of an 18-year-old Zeta-Jones modeling a satin wedding gown she reportedly admired in a bridal-shop window.
Meanwhile, the British magazine OK has exclusive rights to pictures of the wedding – reportedly for more than $1 million.
Security getting into the Grand Ballroom gala is expected to be ultra-tight. Some sources said guests will pass through a large tent after they emerge from their limousines. Burry denied a tent will be in place.
While the stars are being joined in wedlock, a paparazzi gridlock will be camped outside the hotel.
Among the likely guests are actor Danny DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman, “The View” hostess Barbara Walters, comedian Dan Aykroyd, director Steven Spielberg, Jack Nicholson and musician Art Garfunkel.