Eva Longoria & Tony Parker: Say 'oui' in Paris : Netglimse.com News

Eva Longoria & Tony Parker: Say 'oui' in Paris

"Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria and basketball champion Tony Parker have married in a civil ceremony in Paris, kicking off a weekend wedding extravaganza expected to include church vows and a star-studded chateau bash.

About 40 guests, including French soccer player Thierry Henry and some of Parker's teammates from the San Antonio Spurs, attended Friday's 45 minute-long ceremony, held in the town hall of Paris' fourth arrondissement, or district.

"The atmosphere was very warm and very authentic," said Dominique Bertinotti, the district's mayor. She said the bride was all smiles and that no tears were shed. "It was very joyous."

Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe officiated and gave a speech praising the couple's choice to wed in the City of Light, and called Parker a model in the fight against racism, Bertinotti said.

The couple arrived separately — she with a gaggle of girlfriends in a white stretch limo and he with a group of towering ball players in a pearl gray Mercedes minivan.

Eva Longoria, wearing a pink Chanel mini dress and towering silver heels, arrived first and turned to wave and smile at the crowd of hundreds of waiting photographers, reporters and fans — kept well back behind two rows of police barriers. Her guests, wearing white, cream, pink and purple dresses, carried small shopping bags from the French luxury label.

Eva Longoria then changed into a short white dress for the ceremony, said Bertinotti — whose office acted as the dressing room.

Parker, a 25-year-old who was born in Belgium and grew up playing basketball in France, arrived about 10 minutes later, wearing a dark suit, reportedly from French menswear label De Fursac, which he models for.

He and his entourage, which included fellow French players Boris Diaw of the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers' Ronny Turiaf, went straight in without waving.

A friend of Parker's helped translate the ceremony, which was held in a salon with blue-and-white trimmed walls, a French flag and a portrait of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. It was followed by a small reception that lasted about 45 minutes, Bertinotti said.

Fans in the crowd outside, many of whom had been waiting behind the police cordon for hours, grew testy as the events inside the town hall dragged on.

When, an hour after Eva Longoria and Parker went into the building, the doors opened and another couple emerged, the crowd first booed and then cheered the newlyweds, who posed coyly and threw kisses at waiting photographers.

That was all the eager fans were to get. Eva Longoria and Parker got into a black Mercedes parked away from prying eyes in the courtyard of the town hall and sped off.

The couple's big event is not until Saturday, expected to start at a Paris cathedral that used to serve French royals, adjacent to the Louvre Museum. French law requires a civil ceremony even when couples marry in a church.

The couple and their entourage have given very few details about the nuptials, but media reports said they were to follow the religious service with a star-studded bash at Vaux-le-Vicomte, a 17th century chateau 55 kilometers (34 miles) southeast of Paris.

Rumored guests include Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, movie stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and husband Michael Douglas, and Eva Longoria's "Desperate Housewives" co-stars.

Le Parisien daily reported Friday that fellow "housewives" Teri Hatcher, Felicity Huffman and Nicolette Sheridan arrived Friday at Paris' Bourget airport in a private jet. Marcia Cross, who stars in the series as persnickety Bree and recently gave birth to twins, is not expected to attend the wedding.