Fact #167595

Judge John  Merrick  :  I've known Sean Penn's family for years, they're near neighbours in Malibu, which is  why  they  rang  and asked  me  if  I'd conduct the wedding ceremony. I've done a good many celebrity  marriages  but,  even  by  those  standards,  the security was unusually tight. Even I didn't know exactly where it would be held until the night before but, as it  turned  out,  it was within walking distance of my house.

Dave  Hogan (photographer) : I was out in LA covering the wedding for the News Of The World. We knew it was happening that day  but the  precise location was shrouded in secrecy. We'd gone up early in the day in helicopters looking for marquees or any signs of  a wedding, but we didn't see anything. Then Sean Penn and his mates went down on the beach and scrawled 'FUCK OFF' in huge letters in the sand, directly below the spot where the ceremony was going to be. So that was how we realised it was in Kurt Unger's house.

Maggie Hall (journalist):  For  Unger,  the  whole  thing  was  a promotional  setup,  because  his  house  was up for sale. He was hoping that, by staging the wedding there,  it  would  be  enough free advertising to sell the house. It wasn't.

Judge  John  Merrick  :  I  walked  up to the house about an hour before the ceremony and got there at the same time as  Cher.  She had  to  show  her  invitation to get in, but the guards had been told to expect me. We all sat in the  house  watching  television because  it  was  showing  helicopter  shots of the caterer's van coming up the highway. The journalists must have figured  out  it was  Spago's  doing the catering and they followed the van up the highway.

Maggie  Hall : In the street outside there were hundreds of press members gathered to see the display of stars who  walked  up  the long  driveway.  I  saw Madonna's grandmother having to trudge up the driveway on foot, and she had a look of dismay  on  her  face when  she  saw  the  crowd  she had to pass through to get to her grand-daughter's wedding. Imagine that - even the grandmother had to  run  the  press gauntlet. You'd think Madonna would have been considerate enough to have at least sent a golf cart down.

Dave Hogan : People went to incredible lengths to try and get in, but they'd hired off-duty police as security and  it  was  almost impossible.  There  was  one  Italian paparazzi who'd somehow got hold of the location before anybody else, and he dug  himself  in inside  the  grounds  before the security arrived. He was wearing the leaves, the greasepaint, the webbing, total camouflage  gear. He'd have got away with it too, except he was so well hidden that one of these big hulking security guys came  and  stood  on  him without  even  realising. He told me he managed to stand the pain for about half a minute, then he had to shout out.

Andy  Warhol  : It was just the most exciting weekend of my life. We rode in a limo out to Malibu and when we  saw  helicopters  in the   distance  we  knew  we  were  at  the  wedding.  About  ten helicopters were  hovering,  it  was  like  Apocalypse  Now.  One ·helicopter had a girl hanging off with a camera and they were all trying to get in close.

Judge John Merrick : The guest list was pretty impressive, mostly film people. Martin Sheen was there with his son Emilio  Estevez. I  don't  remember everybody but I saw Christopher Walken, Carrie Fisher, Rosanna Arquette, Tom Cruise and Diane Keaton.  Madonna's sister  Paula  was  best  maid,  and Jamie Foley, who directed At Close Range, was the best man. David Geffen of Geffen Records was there too, and the tv talk show host, David Letterman.

Andy  Warhol  :  I  looked  really  close  at  Madonna and she is beautiful. She wore white, and a black bowler hat, I  don't  know what  that  was  supposed to mean. And someone said that Sean had shot at the helicopters the night before.

Judge  John Merrick : The actual ceremony was perfectly standard. Nothing was changed from what I usually do except that because of the  helicopters hovering directly above, I was shouting and Sean and Madonna were answering as loud as they could. She seemed  to enjoy it, but I think she was upset that friends and family, even the ones standing nearby, couldn't hear what was being said.

James  Day  :  (movie  producer)  :  Guests were hoping Sylvester Stallone would would turn up and do a Rambo on the 'copters.
Christopher  Walken : The ceremony was lovely. Madonna was lovely but I couldn't hear a thing. Nobody could.

John  Daly  (guest)  :   They had a good, big kiss when they were pronounced man and wife and then they went into the house and  up onto  the balcony, where Madonna tossed her bouquet to her sister Paula. Then Sean disappeared under Madonna's dress, which got a big cheer from the crowd. He emerged with her garter, and threw it backward. His brother Chris caught it.

Judge  John  Merrick  :  The  reception  was held in a huge tent. Madonna loves pizza and that was the main dish, a big plateful of it.  I was surprised by the music because I expected modern rock but the deejay seemed to play a lot of 40s and 50s tunes.

Cher : As she was about to cut the cake she turned to me and said "Hey, you've done this before. Do you just cut one  piece  or  do you have to slice up the whole thing?"

Andy  Warhol  :  Cher  said  "As if I know." And then Madonna was asking people if she should put the cake on plates, and  she  was just handing it to everyone in her hand, you know, being earthy.

Douglas  Thompson  (author)  : Malcolm McLaren's Madame Butterfly was blasting from  the  loudspeakers  by  the  time  the  waiters started pouring $100 bottles of Cristal champagne. As well as the pizzas, there was a five tier hazelnut cake with  sugar  flowers; lobster  ravioli;  rack  of  lamb;  swordfish  and baked potatoes stuffed with sour cream and caviar.

Erica  Bell  :  While  everyone  was  dancing  downstairs,  Paula (Madonna's  sister) came up to the bathroom. While she was fixing her lipstick, she got into a  rage.  'I  can't  believe  this  is happening.  This  should be my wedding day, not hers. I should be the famous one. This should be my career.' Honestly, it was  like ·a  scene  straight  of  Whatever  Happened  To  Baby Jane? It was totally crazy. We all just sort of looked at each other and  said 'Gee,  she  can't  be serious'. Debi M (Madonna's make-up person) and I sort of backed out of the room. From  then  on,  Paula  was insanely jealous of her sister's success.

Dave Hogan : I spent a lot of the day with Kip Rano who was doing it for National Enquirer. Security was so tight that  nobody  was getting  anywhere.  Once  the  reception  got going, Kip suddenly appeared in an immaculate white suit and  said  "Right,  I'm  off over." He dodged the guards and went over the wall. He managed to con everybody in the tent  for  about  half  an  hour,  including Madonna herself, by passing himself off as a friend of Sean's but eventually Sean caught on and came after him.

Kip  Rano  (photographer)  :  Suddenly  he  (Sean Penn) threw two punches at me. I blocked his blows and didn't return them because he  was  obviously  drunk. Instead, I grabbed his wrists, then we were wrestling and fell to the floor. The security people  pulled him off me and escorted me to the gate.

Andy Warhol : Steve Rubell (owner of Studio 54) was really out of it on, I guess, quaaludes. And I think I  saw  Madonna  kick  him away from her and later he threw up in the car.

Madonna : The whole time was almost too much. I  mean,  I  didn't think I was going to be getting married with thirteen helicopters flying over my head. It turned into a circus.