Entertainment> Celebrities

Eva Longoria and Tony Parker leading 7/7/7 wedding march

(AFP)
2007-07-05 19:07

PARIS - "Desperate Housewives" diva Eva Longoria marries NBA superstar Tony Parker in Paris on Saturday in the celebrity wedding of the year, leading the worldwide rush tocatch the mystique of the 7/7/7 date.

Longoria, 32, and Parker, 25, will be married at a Paris church before the stretch limos and helicopters take the couple and their Hollywood friends to the Vaux-le-Vicomte, a 17th-century chateau just outside the French capital.

Longoria and Parker have kept their guest list secret but according to the entertainment media, actors Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jamie Foxx, singer Lionel Richie and Longoria's "Desperate Housewives" co-stars will be there.

The San Antonio Spurs guard, who was most valuable player in this year's NBA finals, is not even saying who his best man will be though he is not denying reports that it will be fellow French NBA star Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns.

The marriage will be held at the Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois church in central Paris.

More attention is likely to be focused on the party at Vaux-le-Vicomte, the lavish estate that inspired King Louis XIV's chateau at Versailles and hosted some of finest "fetes" of the 17th century. Though a must stop for many tourists, the chateau will be off limits to the public for two days before the wedding.

Reports have also said Parker, who made a rap album this year, could perform at the party.

According to the rumour mill, Beverly Hills wedding planner to the stars Mindy Weiss spotted Vaux-le-Vicomte after Longoria said she wanted a "fancy wedding" and loved the romance of France.

In Paris last week, Parker was nonchalant about the arrangements.

"Personally I don't care. I've been talking about it every day for the last seven months. It's a girl's day," he told reporters.

Rights to wedding photographs have been negotiated by OK! magazine for a reported fee of two million dollars.

Longoria and Parker have been in the posh French Riviera resort of St. Tropez in the runup to their wedding but they have not said where the honeymoon will be and the entertainment media has said Longoria has to begin filming again next week.

Born in Belgium to an African-American basketball professional and a Dutch model, Parker was brought up in Rouen, west of Paris, and started his sporting career in the United States in 2001. He is the first European to be named Most Valuable Player in the NBA finals.

Longoria, a Texan, has long been a Spurs fan, and is a regular at his matches. They got engaged last November.

Set amid sumptuous gardens designed by the legendary landscape architect Le Notre some 50 kilometres (30 miles) southwest of Paris, Vaux-le-Vicomte has been used as a set for dozens of films, from the Roger Moore Bond hit "Moonraker" to Sofia Coppola's "Marie Antoinette".

In 2004 it staged India's society wedding of the year, when 1,000 guests were flown in for the marriage of Vanisha Mittal -- daughter of steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal -- and investment banker Amit Bhatia.

The last time it was closed to the public for more than a few hours was during the filming of "The Man in the Iron Mask", starring Leonardo DiCaprio, nearly a decade ago.

"We organise a wedding like this once every 10 years," said Jean-Charles de Vogue, whose family has owned the chateau since 1875.

The price for renting the chateau has not been disclosed, but access to just the ground floor for five hours usually carries the price-tag of 35,500 euros (48,500 dollars), before tax.

Time magazine has branded 777 "the most popular wedding date ever" with couples drawn by the auspicious power of the number seven.

For Las Vegas gamblers, the triple seven is a lucky number on casino slot machines and the blackjack table.

For the religious, God needed seven days to create the World, the Jewish bride circles her groom seven times, and Muslim pilgrims go seven times around the sacred black Kabaa in Mecca.

Hindus recognise the seven chakras (spinning wheel sources of energy) of the body, while the Seven Deadly Sins and Seven Wonders of the World are a source of fascination across any religious divide.