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ROME - Multi-millionaire England and Manchester United football star Wayne Rooney tied the knot on Thursday with girlfriend Coleen McLoughlin under driving rain on the Italian Riviera, the ANSA news agency reported.
The intimate ceremony in the fairytale Villa Durazzo in Santa Margherita Ligure, overlooking the Mediterranean near Genoa, was followed by a reception at a nearby abbey, La Cervara, built by Benedictine monks in 1361, ANSA said.
The 17th-century Villa Durazzo was also the setting for British rock star Rod Stewart's wedding to third wife Penny Lancaster in June last year.
Burly British security guards stood watch outside the gates of the villa to keep hordes of reporters and cameramen at bay as the wedding party pulled up in black Mercedes with tinted windows, ANSA said.
The newlyweds, both 22, reportedly put up five million pounds (6.3 million euros, 9.7 million dollars) for their nuptials, half of it covered by selling exclusive picture rights to the celebrity magazine OK!
Former footballer Giovanni Costa, deputy mayor of Santa Margherita, officiated at the half-hour ceremony, ANSA said.
Rooney and his wife, now an occasional newspaper columnist, have been an item since at least 2003 when they were only 17.
They have been dubbed "Wayleen" by the British tabloid press. The festivities were to continue into the night aboard a yacht off Genoa, reportedly complete with fireworks.
Rooney was able to marry in June because England failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals currently taking place in Austria and Switzerland. - AFP/ar
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