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 The two-time Oscar winner and Kentucky-born Clooney, 53, is
set to renounce his oath of bachelorhood and marry
British-Lebanese barrister Alamuddin, 36, in a multi-day
extravaganza in Italy's floating city.
A beaming Clooney and his bride-to-be took a water taxi on the
Grand Canal on Friday, and more boats bearing blue flags printed
with the initials “A” and “G” waited in the morning at Venice's
airport to ferry early arrivals including Ellen Barkin,
Clooney’s co-star in "Ocean’s Thirteen".
Tourists and Venetians alike clustered after dark on Friday on a
pier next to the seven-star Aman Canal Grande Hotel, a
fresco-filled palazzo which the pair reportedly reserved for an
exchange-of-vows ceremony and reception on Saturday.
Among those hoping to catch a glimpse of one of the glamorous
guests on a list rumoured to hold 150 names was Osmany Mena, 37,
who was visiting Venice from Miami, Florida.
"They talked about Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie. It
would be cool to see any of them, all of them,” Mena said,
mentioning Clooney's co-star Bullock in the 2013 blockbuster
"Gravity" and another recently married Hollywood power couple.
Local press said Matt Damon, star of "The Talented Mr. Ripley"
and "The Bourne Identity", landed later in the day at the
airport on Venice's long Lido island.
Alamuddin and Clooney, who vowed never to remarry after his 1993
divorce from actress Talia Balsam, posted legal notice of their
plans to wed at a West London town hall in August, drawing a
crowd of fans but no appearance from the couple.
Alamuddin has represented Ukrainian former prime minister Yulia
Tymoshenko at the European Court of Human Rights, and WikiLeaks
founder Julian Assange in extradition proceedings.
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She has been dating Clooney since October 2013, according to media
reports, and their engagement was confirmed when her legal chambers
issued a statement in April to congratulate the couple.
Alamuddin also advised former United Nations secretary general Kofi
Annan on the conflict in Syria, an issue about which Clooney has
spoken publicly. Clooney also recently worked as an advocate for
refugees in Darfur, Sudan.
CELEBRITY STATUS
Speculation and rumours about the wedding have swirled, but always
centred on Italy, where Clooney is a regular attendee of the Venice
Film Festival and owns a villa by Lake Como.
He set off a media frenzy earlier this month when he was widely
quoted as saying at an event in Tuscany that he and his bride-to-be
had met in Italy and would marry in Venice.
The official ceremony is expected to be held on Monday at Venice's
town hall, the 14th-century Ca' Farsetti palace, and Italian media
reported that the former mayor of Rome, Walter Veltroni, would
officiate.
Venice's local government said it would close off a few of the
town's narrow pedestrian streets for two hours on Monday.
"Considering that the location of the ceremony is likely to become a
target for people attracted by the celebrity status of the event,
high numbers could be a problem for traffic and pose a threat to
those people's safety," the notice said.
Not all Venetians were worried by the prospect of crowds. Marco
Pampani, 58, an architect who lives in the city, welcomed the
couple's decision to bring their nuptials there.
"This puts the city in the spotlight," Pampani said by the Aman
hotel on Friday evening, still cheery after standing there for 1 1/2
hours. "It brings people, movement, things Venice needs."
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