Naomi Watts of King Kong fame has landed in Australia to attend the wedding of her best friend, Nicole Kidman. Nicole finally publicly admitted that she and country singer Keith Urban are to marry on June 25th in a joint statement released by the pair on June 19th. It is speculated that they plan to marry at the Catholic MacKillop Chapel in North Sydney.
Nicole has been seeing Keith since July of last year when they met at a honors dinner in Australia. Keith was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia. Nicole is not a native Australian (she was born in Hawaii) but was raised there since the age of three. The couple caused quite a stir when they were seen riding a motorcycle together in upper state New York in August of 2005. Keith had just split from his girlfriend, Niki Taylor, a month earlier. Nicole, divorced from husband Tom Cruise in 2001, had been seen with singer Lenny Kravitz and billionaire Stephen Bing (father of Elizabeth Hurley’s son Damian).
The couple kept their romance and engagement mum for quite a while. Although seen in public together, including at Keith’s “Keith’s Alive in 05” concert tour, the pair didn’t mention their relationship to the press. After seen wearing what appeared to be an engagement ring on her finger, Nicole only last month confirmed to People magazine that the couple were indeed engaged, matter-of-factly referring to Keith as her fiancé.
There are reportedly 200 guests expected to attend. To ensure security and privacy, Nicole has hired all available helicopters (to prevent overhead wedding shots) and the wedding is said to take place at 6:00 pm – also to prevent the paparazzi from taking photos. Among the scheduled guests of the bride and groom are actor Russell Crowe, actor Hugh Jackman, and singer Kenny Chesney. The London Sun is reporting that Bette Midler will sing “Wind Beneath My Wings” at the wedding and the Daily Star says Nicole will wear a Balenciaga wedding dress.
Guests have been asked to not get the happy couple wedding gifts, but make donations to their favorite charities.