Celebrities began arriving in Rome on Thursday for Tom Cruise's wedding to actress Katie Holmes this weekend in Italy, feeding a media frenzy.

Jim Carrey, Jennifer Lopez, Jada Pinkett Smith and "Mission: Impossible III" director J.J. Abrams were among the first guests of the showbusiness wedding to land at Rome's Ciampino airport, Reuters witnesses said.

Cruise and Holmes later arrived at a central Rome restaurant for a party for some 130 guests, waving and acknowledging throngs of cheering fans for the first time since their arrival.

The couple and their guests were choosing from a menu featuring 12 dishes of mostly traditional Italian home-style cooking such as ravioli with meat sauce and artichokes prepared Roman-style.

Some 500 people, including David Beckham and his wife Victoria, are expected to attend the ceremony on Saturday at a medieval castle in the lakeside town of Bracciano, around 40 km (25 miles) north of the Italian capital.