The Catholic priest in the town that hosted Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes‘ wedding at the weekend is livid that the couple had already married in a civil service before leaving the United States.

The Scientology service held at Castello Odescalchi in Bracciano, just north of Rome, would not have constituted a legal wedding in Italy and a spokesperson for the couple confirmed that they had “officialized” the marriage in Los Angeles.

The priest Nicola Fiorentini reportedly rang his church’s bells longer and louder than usual at Saturday evening’s Mass to clash with the sunset Scientology ceremony at the castle.

He later said: “It wasn’t a wedding at all. It was just for publicity. A pope once stayed at the castle, now we have this. It’s shameful and an offence.”

However, the celebrity guests didn’t seem to mind that it was essentially just a blessing and a party.

One guest told the Sun: “When Katie looked at Tom, the biggest beaming smile came across her face. It was incredible. There was drumming like at an Italian festival and flag bearers in medieval costumes.”

“Suddenly everybody started clapping. I’ve never seen anything like that at a wedding.”

The guest also added that when it came to kissing his new bride, Tom was over-eager and the assembled guests had to call out to him to “stop, stop”.

On her return to the hotel after the reception, Brooke Shields described the event as being “better than anyone could have imagined, just wonderful.”

Victoria Beckham also sounded to have had a good time: she described the day as “great, really great” and reportedly texted a friend to say how well she had got along with Jennifer Lopez, jokily referring to her as her “new best friend.”