Nicole and Keith keep wedding plans a secret

Jun 22, 2006, 13:23 GMT

A marque being constructed in front of Cardinal Cerretti Memorial Chapel in the grounds of Saint Patricks Estate in Manly, Sydney, Australia, Thursday 22 June 2006. The chapel is said to be the place where Australian actress Nicole Kidman will marry country singer Keith Urban on Sunday 25 June. EPA/DEAN LEWINS

Sydney - We know where but we don't know when. St Patrick's Catholic Church in the Sydney suburb of Manly is almost certainly where Australian film star Nicole Kidman will exchange her wedding vows with country music singer Keith Urban.

But guests at what is to be a small ceremony either don't know, or aren't telling, whether it's Saturday or Sunday they will be gathering for the nuptials on a cliff top overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The top tip for a couple the press has dubbed 'Keithman' is Sunday.

A second go at matrimony for the Oscar-winner, and a first for former party boy Urban, is a certainty.

'We are very happy to be back in Australia,' the couple said in a joint statement released when they arrived in Australia earlier this week. 'We have come home to celebrate our wedding with our family and friends.'

The hen's night, which doubled as a 39th birthday party for Kidman, has been and gone. It was hosted by sister Antonia, who is expected to be maid-of-honour.

Isabella, 13, the daughter Kidman adopted during her 10-year marriage to fellow actor Tom Cruise, is rumoured to be bridesmaid. Isabella and her 11-year-old brother Connor have flown in from Japan, where they have been spending time with Cruise, who is there promoting the third edition of the Mission Impossible series.

Kidman arrived in her Lear jet from China, where she had been attending the Shanghai Film Festival and adding to her fortune by promoting Swiss watches.

Urban, recently voted 'sexiest country music singer' by the United States-based Country Weekly magazine, was with Kidman in China but was not pictured with her when she got off the plane and got into a black Mercedes-Benz waiting on the tarmac at Sydney Airport.

In a quaint nod to old-fashioned decorum, Kidman is living in the Point Piper harbourside mansion that was her home in Sydney when she was married to Cruise, while Urban is staying at the InterContinental Hotel in the city centre. They are not going to meet until they exchange vows.

Kidman will likely give up Point Piper. Kidman and Urban last month bought a penthouse on a wooden pier near Sydney Harbour Bridge. But it will only be used for fleeting visits.

Kidman and Urban are Americans these days. The glamour couple, who confirmed their engagement last month, live together in Urban's Nashville spread.

'I've moved to Tennessee for my personal life,' Kidman told reporters in Shanghai. 'I'm establishing my new home there.'

They met in January 2005 at an Australian government function in Los Angeles, Kidman's patch during her first marriage, which ended with a surprising lack of acrimony in 2001.

Kidman, the daughter of an eminent Australian doctor, was born in the US state of Hawaii but was brought up in Sydney. Urban, 38, was born in New Zealand but grew up in Queensland, Australia.

Urban won a talent show and a record deal in 1991 and moved to Nashville the following year, making a name for himself as a guitarist, a songwriter and a party animal.

Urban's family from Queensland are in Sydney for the wedding, taking up some of the 50 rooms booked at the InterContinental. Brother Shane is expected to be best man.

Urban and Kidman spent Christmas together with both sets of parents in Nashville. Kidman attended the Grammy Awards in February when Urban won the Best Country Vocal Performance award for his ballad You'll Think of Me. The couple also attended the Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles, where Kidman was a presenter.

Kidman and Urban are a match in money terms. They were this year named the richest individuals in Australia's entertainment industry by business magazine BRW. Kidman earned 22 million Australian dollars (15 million US dollars) last year with Urban quadrupling his earnings to 20 million Australian dollars (14 million US dollars).

They've made enough money to retire. And Kidman said two years ago that she wanted to retire from acting when she was 40 and move back to Australia for a quiet life. But celebrities as big as Kidman like the limelight.

Since splitting from Cruise, her boyfriends have also been from among the ranks of the rich and famous. And at her wedding this weekend, it's likely to be A-list only.

Best friend and fellow Australian Naomi Watts is to be there, along with fellow actors Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman. Director Baz Luhrmann and Oscar-winning wife Catherine Martin are in town for the do.

Media mogul Rupert Murdoch and wife Wendi Deng are a possibility. A probability is his son, Lachlan Murdoch, who lives in Sydney with wife and former model Sarah O'Hare.