Date: 3rd April 2003

Russell Crowe Prepares For Wedding


The bride has arrived. Looking relaxed in casual clothes and sunglasses, Danielle Spencer flew into Coffs Harbour yesterday to get ready for her big day on Monday, when she ties the knot with Russell Crowe.

Her first piece of good news was that her husband-to-be had sorted out his problems with the Coffs Harbour City Council, which discovered Crowe had flouted building regulations by adding a 10m-tall dome to his $400,000 (£150,000) private chapel at his Nana Glen estate without asking for permission first.

The last thing the council wanted was to be the local body that got in the way of the Wedding of the Year, and yesterday it approved the work.

After a council inspection of the building yesterday and the receipt of final engineering certification, it was deemed there were no impediments to the council issuing a retrospective building certificate for the chapel.

A council spokesman said staff were still considering what penalty to impose for the unauthorised work. A $600 (£230) fine is the most likely outcome.

The property was a hive of activity yesterday. Crowe has built a guard's quarters at the entrance and a digger was working on laying the septic tank.

He is also understood to have bought in about $1000 (£380) worth of shrubs and has erected a post and rail fence, apparently at the cost of $40,000 (£15,000), to help spruce up the property for his big day.

The Courier-Mail

Source: Press Release