It was one of the best-kept secrets at Westminster until a few hours before the ceremony. And the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr Gordon Brown, even managed to fool the press yesterday when he married his long-term partner, Ms Sarah Macaulay, not - as the media expected - in his local parish church in Dunfermline East, but at his home in the Scottish constituency.
After years of speculation that the marriage was imminent, Mr Brown (49) and Ms Macaulay (36) managed to evade the press and were married shortly before 11 a.m. in a Church of Scotland ceremony in the rear dining room of his home in North Queens ferry, overlooking the Firth of Forth.
Most of the journalists had gathered outside a church in nearby Inverkeithing, expecting to catch a glimpse of the couple. But it was only when the newlyweds walked onto the lawn outside his home at 11.36 a.m. that they realised the ceremony had already taken place.
The couple posed on the lawn and, after some prompting, kissed for the cameras. The Dunfermline East MP, known for his dislike of formal dress, wore a casual blue lounge suit and red patterned tie.
The bride wore an ivory shantung silk dress and coat by the Irish designer, Louise Kennedy. She also wore white and pale pink roses in her hair, and carried a small bouquet of white and cream roses.
In a statement afterwards the couple said: "We are overjoyed. It has been a wonderful day and a lovely ceremony." They left Mr Brown's home shortly after 4 p.m. and it is thought they will be taking a short honeymoon in the New England town, Cape Cod, where they have spent holidays together.
The ceremony was conducted by the Rev Sheila Munro of the Church of Scotland, and was attended by about 30 family members and friends, including Mr Brown's chief economic adviser, Mr Ed Balls, and his wife, the Junior Health Minister, Ms Yvette Cooper.
The Chancellor's elder brother, Mr John Brown, was his best man and Ms Macaulay's mother, Pauline, gave her away. Her stepfather, Prof Patrick Vaughan, also attended. Her father, Iain, who has been ill recently, was said to be unable to fly to Scotland.
The couple had wanted to keep the ceremony private and told the Prime Minister, Mr Blair, and his wife, Cherie, only this week. They did not attend the ceremony, but a Downing Street spokeswoman said Mr Blair and his wife were "delighted for Gordon and Sarah."
The wedding plans leaked out when the Scottish newspaper, the Daily Record, spotted that the official church notice of forthcoming weddings in Dunfermline listed the names of Mr Brown and Ms Macaulay. When Mr Brown's officials were made aware that the newspaper planned an exclusive story, his office released a short statement confirming the ceremony was about to take place.
The Labour peer, Lord Murray Elder, who attended the ceremony, said he was pleased that friends and family had managed to keep it a secret. "I think it's something of a tribute to Gordon and Sarah's friends and family that it was not leaked to the press," he said.
Mr Brown proposed to Ms Macaulay in January, six years after they began dating in 1994. It is thought the date for the wedding was fixed shortly afterwards.
Friends have described them as "made for each other" and they have fiercely guarded their privacy in the past six years. Like Mr Brown, Ms Macaulay, who runs a PR company with Ms Julia Hobsbawm, the daughter of the Marxist historian, Prof Eric Hobsbawm, is originally from Fife.