George Clooney outwits paparazzi at his wedding

NEWLY married Hollywood heart-throb George Clooney is reported to have given out free digital cameras to wedding guests in an effort to stop photographs being leaked to the media.

George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin on a Venice taxi boat. Picture: AFP

According to reports, guests at the actor’s extravagant wedding to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin were given specially made cameras and a code, with images then routed to a controlled database, meaning any images touted to the media could be tracked down.

Clooney kept rumour mills whirling in Venice yesterday amid reports he and his Lebanese-born wife were planning a second ceremony in Italy’s floating city today.

The man once dubbed the world’s most eligible bachelor bade farewell to single life on Saturday and married lawyer Amal Alamuddin in a private ceremony at the seven-star Aman hotel on the Grand Canal, Clooney’s representative said.

The two left the Aman on a speedboat yesterday afternoon, heading for the famous Cipriani hotel, where they were expected to have lunch.

Clooney, 53, wearing a light-grey suit, and the 36-year-old Amal, wearing a short, white flower-patterned dress with lace around the shoulders, waved at photographers in boats and well-wishers on bridges as the boat slowly plied the waters of the canal towards the Cipriani on the Giudecca Island, their wedding rings glinting under the dazzling Venetian sun.

The groom sported a simple ring on his left hand while his wife wore a thin band studded with what appeared to be diamonds. The couple shaded their eyes from the afternoon sunlight with dark glasses.

The marriage is the first for the bride and the second for Clooney, following a four-year marriage to actress Talia Balsam which ended in 1993.

The bride left her native Lebanon during its civil war and was raised in the United Kingdom. The Oxford-University-educated Alamuddin met Clooney, who is involved in many political causes, through her work.