George and Amal Clooney Married 10 Years Ago: Read PEOPLE's Cover Story About Their Glamorous Wedding in Italy!

Mar. 15, 2025

George and Amal Clooney; the couple’s PEOPLE wedding story in 2014.

George and Amal Clooney tied the knot in high style in Italy in 2014, after first meeting through a mutual friend over dinner. As the couple celebrates their milestone 10th wedding anniversary, take a look back atPEOPLE’scoverage of their lavish, multi-day wedding extravaganza in Venice.

But it was hardly the main event. That came when a string ensemble struck up “Here Comes the Bride” and the day’s real star took center stage:Amal Alamuddin, the British human rights lawyer who has made an honest man of one of the world’s most famously single guys, walked in on the arm of her father, Ramzi, looking stunning in a French lace Oscar de la Renta gown.

Amal and George Clooney’s 2014 PEOPLE cover story.

“I welcomed the Clooney family into ours,” Baria, an editor at the pan-Arab newspaperAl-Hayat,tells PEOPLE. “I said, ‘George, we love you truly, deeply and sincerely. We enjoy your charm, your wit, intelligent conversation and generosity. You are simply perfect.’ ”

Simplyperfettoalso sums up the four-day, multiparty wedding extravaganza in Italy’s famed Floating City. An international blend of haute couture, high spirits and Hollywood charm, the rolling festivities played like scenes from one of Clooney’s elegantly made films.

George and Amal Clooney in Venice, Italy, in September 2014.PIERRE TEYSSOT/AFP via Getty Images

PIERRE TEYSSOT/AFP via Getty Images

Even Mother Nature nailed her role, delivering picture-perfect sunsets over the ancient palaces and canals. “Venice is the most romantic city in the world,” says Clooney, “and we couldn’t think of a better place to get married.”

The city did not disappoint, with fans and photographers crowding the Grand Canal — on which the wedding party commuted throughout the weekend aboard a flotilla of classic wooden watertaxis — for a glimpse of thedolce vitapageantry. At the heart of the spectacle were the bride, 36, and groom, 53, whose happiness was on display on land and sea.

“George and Amal present us with … belief that in this place and at this moment,” Nick said in his speech, “love is alive and well.”

The entire affair — which wrapped on Sept. 29 witha civil ceremonyat the Venice town hall — brought the couple’s yearlong, around-the-world romance fittingly full circle. “We met in Italy,” says Clooney, who has long ownedan estate on Lake Como. “We have a home there. We knew that was where we wanted to get married.”

Amal and George Clooney arrive to their civil ceremony in Venice, Italy, in September 2014.Pierre Teyssot/Getty

The couple tapped family friend Nora Sagal, the daughter of entertainment executive David Sagal, to sing the Irving Berlin standard “Always” at the ceremony (the same song Nick and Nina danced to at their wedding) and Cole Porter’s “Why Shouldn’t I?” for their first dance at the reception.

George and Amal Clooney in Venice, Italy, on the eve of their wedding in September 2014.ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty

“It’s Italy, so of course [we had] wine,” says Clooney, “but we thought we’d fly a little of our own tequila out as well.”

The last guests trickled out at almost 5 a.m. “Family and friends danced the wedding night away,” says Baria, “congratulating each other and expressing the extreme joy at a union that gave all joy and hope of what true love is.”

When the Beirut-born, London-bred attorney and the Kentucky-reared starfirst crossed paths, Clooney’s reputation as one of Hollywood’s most longstanding bachelors was not lost on those closest to Alamuddin.

“I have to admit, that caused some motherly panic,” the bride’sclose friend Jae Kim sharedin a ceremony speech. “ ‘Is she going to get hurt? He isn’t exactly Mr. Commitment,’ I thought.”

George and Amal Clooney take a boat ride in the Grand Canal after their wedding celebration in September 2014.Robino Salvatore/GC Images

Robino Salvatore/GC Images

But those fears were quickly dispelled. “You could see in the way he held himself, treated her and others and enjoyed life that his heart was big and he loved her with all of it,” recalled Kim.

The effect was evident on Alamuddin as well: She quit smoking (“cold turkey!”) and, uncharacteristically, “ever since she met George, she has been on time,” joked Kim. But most of all, she added, “I had never seen her smile like that. She has had that smile now for almost a year straight!”

Naturally that smile was in dazzling form throughout the wedding weekend, with Alamuddin earning admiration for everything from her Princess Kate–rivaling tresses to her off-the-runway fashion.

Clooney too “was the happiest I have ever seen him,” says Giovanni Fracassi, owner of DaIvo restaurant, where the actor enjoyed a boys’ night on the eve of the wedding. (The women celebrated at the Aman, where Alamuddin spent her last evening as a single lady, while Clooney stayed at the Belmond Hotel Cipriani.)

Amal and George Clooney in Venice, Italy, for their September 2014 wedding.ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty

ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty

“Then we both go right back to work,” says Clooney. What are they most looking forward to as their married life begins? Easy, says Clooney: “We’re looking forward to everything.”

source: people.com