Clooney, wife make newlywed appearance Sunday in Venice

VENICE, Italy -- Wedding bands glinted under the Venetian sun on the hands of George Clooney and his new bride, Amal Alamuddin, as the heartthrob actor and the human rights lawyer emerged Sunday from the luxury hotel where they were married a day earlier.

The groom, in a smart light gray suit, sported a simple ring on his left hand. His wife, in a flouncy white short dress with pastel-colored appliques resembling flower blossoms, wore a thin band studded with what appeared to be roundish diamonds. The newlyweds shaded their eyes from the afternoon sunlight with dark glasses.

They hopped into a waiting water taxi and, with Clooney putting his arm around her frequently, made their way down the Grand Canal to another waterside hotel where many of their guests were staying. Gondoliers steered out of their way.

Tourists and Venetians cheered when Clooney waved and Alamuddin smiled broadly.

The 53-year-old actor, who had vowed he'd never wed again, and the 36-year-old London-based lawyer, were married with Hollywood stars and family among guests.

Celebrity-watching will last at least another day in Venice. City officials have announced the closure today of a stretch of pedestrian walkway along the Grand Canal near the 16th-century Cavalli Palace, so the couple can have a civil marriage ceremony there. The palace is right across from the Aman hotel where the couple wed Saturday evening.

The marriage is the first for the bride and the second for Clooney, who had been one of the world's most sought-after bachelors since 1993, after a four-year marriage to actress Talia Balsam.

The bride left her native Lebanon during its civil war and was raised in the United Kingdom. The Oxford-University-educated Alamuddin met Clooney, who is involved in many political causes, through her work.