Stars gather for Douglas and Jones nuptials

(CNN) -- Relatives and friends are in New York for the most talked about wedding of the year -- set to bridge a 25-year age gap by uniting Hollywood's hottest couple, Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas.

The bride and groom-to-be held a dress rehearsal checking they had learned their lines for the glitzy ceremony at New York's Plaza hotel on Friday.

Douglas, 56, and Jones, 31, star in the real thing -- an extravaganza costing $1.7 million -- on Saturday night with many of the movie world's biggest names believed to be on the guest list.

Brad Pitt, Sir Michael Caine, Sir Sean Connery and Sharon Stone are among those who have been sent invitations. Zeta Jones's family, who have met Douglas frequently, have flown over from Swansea, South Wales for the occasion.

They include her octogenarian grandmother Zeta, whose name the actress adopted. There had been fears she might not make it because of a hip operation, but she has been given the all-clear to travel.

The couple's three-month old son, Dylan, will be at the nuptials and the groom's 23-year-old son Cameron will be best man.

About 110 relatives and close friends are expected to attend, with the police mounting a complicated security operation to protect the celebrity couple and keep the city's traffic moving.

After the wedding, the couple plan a honeymoon of skiing at Douglas's ranch at Aspen, Colorado.

The son of screen legend Kirk, Michael Douglas got the break that made him a worldwide star -- appearing opposite Karl Malden in the police show The Streets of San Francisco in 1972 -- when Zeta Jones was just a toddler.

The star of Basic Instinct and The Jewel of The Nile won an Oscar for producing One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest in 1976, and a second Academy Award for his portrayal of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street.

Jones came to attention in the British TV hit series The Darling Buds Of May in 1991, later having a string of celebrity boyfriends including Braveheart actor Angus McFadyen and singer Mick Hucknall.

Her big movie break came in 1998 with The Mask Of Zorro, a massive hit in the U.S., as was her next appearance, in the adventure film Entrapment with Sean Connery.

By that point she was on the fringes of the Hollywood big league, mingling with the glitterati, and she met Douglas at the Deauville French film festival.

Douglas asked her to dinner in Los Angeles -- where she was based -- and the couple were rarely apart after the relationship took off in June of last year.

Douglas had married his first wife Diandra --13 years his junior -- shortly after they first met in 1977. They split in 1995.

Speculation about marriage to Jones rose last summer after she was seen wearing a huge ring.

News of their engagement was given to the world via his web site -- as was the birth of their son Dylan eight months later.

Last month Britain's Sun newspaper reported that Jones had struck a pre-nuptial agreement with Douglas that would give her $1.5 million a year for each year of marriage if the couple split up.

Catherine Zeta Jones pre-nuptial agreement
October 9, 2000
Hollywood couple in Wales to show off son
October 3, 2000
Catherine Zeta Jones gives birth to son
August 9, 2000

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