Zeta Jones to tie the knot

The couple are looking forward to their wedding

One of the most expensive Hollywood weddings is taking place on Saturday with Michael Douglas marrying Catherine Zeta Jones in New York.

The 56-year-old actor and the 31-year-old actress will exchange vows in the Grand Ballroom of the Plaza Hotel, in front of a congregation of celebrities and family members, including Michael's father, Kirk Douglas.

Singer Tom Jones, Sean Connery, Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Danny DeVito, President Bill Clinton and Sir Anthony Hopkins are all said to have been invited.

Michael Douglas's father Kirk is among guests at the wedding

More certain to attend are Brian Thomas, a 54-year-old scrap dealer friend of the bride's father and Catherine's old dance teacher, Hazel Johnson.

Catherine's parents and her grandmother will also be in attendance.

The couple's three-month-old baby Dylan will watch the ceremony from his grandmother's arms, while Douglas's 21-year-old son, Cameron, from his first marriage, will act as best man.

Michael Douglas has reportedly paid for his new bride's family to be flown to New York on a private jet.

The cost of the ceremony and reception, put at between £1.2m and £1.5m, will be offset by the £1m reportedly paid by OK! magazine for exclusive rights to the wedding photos.

The dress, which is being kept secret until Saturday, is rumoured to have cost more than £100,000.

It was designed by David Emanuel, co-creator of Diana, Princess of Wales's wedding gown.

The wedding is the culmination of a 20-month romance between one of Hollywood's elder statesmen and an actress who finally broke into the celebrity A-list after years of effort.

Media army

The couple, who share the same 25 September birthday, met at a film festival in France in August 1998.

Douglas' infamous chat up line that first night was: "I want to be the father of your children."

They began dating in March 1999, and after much speculation got engaged last New Year's Eve.

He had to wait before he could father her first child, however.

Back to her roots

From the outset Michael and Catherine made the effort to return to her native Wales.

He claimed to be enamoured by the people and the countryside, but described the Welsh weather as "brutal".

The wedding is meant to be a private affair but the ceremony has sent the tabloid press on both sides of the Atlantic into a frenzy.

"On Saturday, the whole media army will be poised to attack," said Charlie Leerhsen, editor of the American celebrity magazine Us Weekly.

He added: "An image is going to be worth so much that photographers will be climbing over each other.

"It will be a big deal. No one will quite know why, but it will be."