London, Aug 30: Pop star Madonna and model Kate Moss were among celebrities expected at the wedding of fashion designer Stella McCartney, daughter of ex-Beatle Paul McCartney, to publisher Alasdhair Willis on the isle of Bute in Western Scotland this weekend. The exact time and location of the ceremony were still a closely guarded secret. Besides Madonna and her film director husband Guy Ritchie, famous guests were to include Chrissie Hynde of the group the pretenders, Chris martin of the group Coldplay and American movie star Liv Tyler. Many had already arrived yesterday at the Port of Rothesay aboard a ferry from the Scottish mainland. The former formula one racing driver Johnny Dumfries, who bears the ancient hereditary title of Seventh Marquis of Bute, is reported to have made his historic family home at Mount Stuart on the island available for a lavish wedding reception.

After several years as designer at a Parisian fashion house, Stella McCartney is now head of her own label, part of the Gucci group.

Stella will also have a new half-brother or sister later this year, after it was announced in May that McCartney's second wife Heather was pregnant with the couple's first baby, a year after they married.

McCartney had one son, two daughters -- including Stella -- and a step-daughter by his first wife Linda Eastman, who died in 1998.


Bureau Report