Welsh toast for happy couple

Traders in Mumbles have put out flags and bunting

Hollywood stars are gathering in New York for the wedding on Saturday evening of Swansea's Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas.

Three thousand miles away in the south Wales village of Mumbles, the celebrations have already begun for those not lucky enough to get one of the coveted invitations to the wedding of the decade

Traders in the Mumbles - the seaside corner of Swansea where Catherine Zeta Jones was born and brought up - were today getting into the wedding spirit with special celebrations and offers.

Happy couple: Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones

The Castleton Walk shopping arcade, where many stores have put out bunting and flags, has been adorned with a banner wishing the happy couple the best.

And the traders sent a congratulatory fax to the Plaza Hotel in New York where the wedding is to take place.

It read: "Congratulations on your wedding from all the Castleton Walk Arcade, Mumbles - The Birthplace of the World's First Passenger Railway."

One coffee house was offering a celebration breakfast, complete with Lava bread and other local delicacies, and another shop was running a special wine tasting event.

"Everyone is getting into the spirit.," said local businesman Tony Cottle.

"We've got wine tastings, offers on wedding photography and even the local butcher is celebrating.

"We're all very proud of Catherine."

Congratulatory fax: Sent to New York

But regulars at local bars said Wales's Rugby Union international against the USA was the centre of attention today.

On Mumbles publican said: "Local people are talking about the wedding a lot and are interested in it, but there aren't any street parties or anything like that."

"We've got the TV tuned to the rugby and that's everyone's priority today."

Elsewhere in Wales interest in what is being's dubbed the wedding of the decade appears to have been muted.

While paparazzi in New York vie for a coveted wedding photo, Saturday's coverage from newspapers in Wales has been led by the Welsh Mirror with four pages of wedding previews and speculation.

But Saturday's broadsheet Western Mail confined its wedding day coverage to one page towards the back of the paper.

And the Daily Post, which serves readers in north Wales, devoted just half a page to the marriage.

Apart from the very real interest in her home city of Swansea, it seems Catherine Zeta Jones has now been too long gone from her home country to provoke "front page" news even on the morning of her wedding to a Hollywood movie star.