George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin's wedding cost £8m

George Clooney’s four-day wedding celebrations in Venice, which involved pool-side cocktail parties, dinners in five-star hotels and a lavish wedding reception on the Grand Canal, cost an estimated 10 million euros (£8 million).

More than 100 guests, including Hollywood stars such as Matt Damon, Sandra Bullock and Cindy Crawford, converged on the lagoon city for the extravaganza, which began last Friday and culminated on Monday with a civil ceremony in which Mr Clooney and Amal Alamuddin were formally married.

The final bill for the spectacle included the cost of Ms Alamuddin’s wedding dress, the first pictures of which emerged on Monday on the covers of People and Hello magazines.

The white lace gown, designed by Oscar de la Renta, was hand-stitched with hundreds of pearls and crystals. The off-the-shoulder, ivory-coloured dress featured a floor-length veil.

The cost of the wedding also included the hire of water taxis to take guests to and from the various venues, the rooms in which they stayed at the five-star Hotel Cipriani, and the reception at the Aman Hotel on Saturday night, in which the Hollywood idol and his British fiancée informally exchanged vows.

The star of Gravity and The Monuments Men flew in cases of his own brand of tequila and the couple gave iPods loaded with a special collection of their favourite songs to their guests as presents.

It was not clear who picked up the tab for the four-day marriage marathon.

The Italian media reported that the whole event was paid for by Ms Alamuddin’s father Ramzi, a retired professor at the American University of Beirut.

But it seemed likely that his new son-in-law, one of the highest-paid actors in the world, would have chipped in too.

The happy couple were greeted by huge crowds of Venetians and tourists when they emerged from the city’s 13th century town hall on the Grand Canal after their civil ceremony on Monday, with one Italian newspaper hailing the Hollywood star as “a new doge”.

But the Italian press saved most of their adulation for Beirut-born Ms Alamuddin, 36, who came to Britain as a toddler after her family fled Lebanon’s civil war. She is an acclaimed human rights barrister based in London.

Although Mr Clooney looked suave in a succession of grey suits, “there were eyes only for the elegant Anglo-Lebanese lawyer,” La Stampa said.

The Hollywood heart-throb had been left “in the shade” by his new wife, who appeared in one stunning outfit after another. He was little more than “a consort” to his stunning bride, the paper said.

Ms Alamuddin was the world’s newest female fashion icon, putting her in the same ranks as the Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Rania of Jordan and Letizia Ortiz, the former journalist who became Queen of Spain after the abdication of King Juan Carlos in June.