Celebrity Mound

Newlyweds Katy Perry and Russell Brand rejected a string of lucrative offers to sell their wedding photos to the press, because they feared it would only lead to further media intrusion into their lives.

The I Kissed a Girl hitmaker wed the outlandish Brit in a lavish ceremony in India last month and hired burly security guards to keep the paparazzi out.

Brand reveals they were inundated with picture deals from top magazines, but ultimately decided against sharing one of their most intimate moments with the world.

The comedian tells U.S. newsman Larry King, “They offered us money to sell the photos, but once you’ve sold the photos to the wedding, how can you go, ‘Oh, give us privacy!’ We kept them private and normal.”

The couple married in a lavish ceremony on Saturday at the luxury Aman-i-Khas resort in Rajasthan, India, before jetting off on their honeymoon yesterday, and Russell hopes the couple will be able to make their way through the ancient Indian sex guide.

The comedian joked he would spend the next few days “taking Katy through the Kama Sutra”.

After posting identical messages on their twitter saying: “WE DID!” the newlyweds boarded a private jet at Jaipur airport on Katy’s 26th birthday yesterday and were believed to be en route to the Maldives.

A spokeswoman for Russell said: “They have gone off on their own. This is a special time for them now.”

A friend of the pair added: “Where they’re going is out of the way and they can just relax on the beach, enjoy each other’s company and get massages with no other distractions.”

Meanwhile, it has been reported the couple have run into trouble over their exit from the Aman-i-Khas resort after they reportedly left on a helicopter booked for airlifting a patient.

But Ravi Kumar, District Collector for the region of Sawai Madhopur, rubbished the claims, saying: “I gave permission for special landing of the helicopter to the hotel administration as they need to shift a patient to Jaipur. I am not concerned about who was travelling with the patient.”

A complaint was also filed against six people including Katy and Russell for violating the Wildlife Protection Act through sound pollution caused by fire crackers and loud music during the marriage ceremony.

British comedian Russell Brand and pop singer Katy Perry married on Saturday in a closely guarded traditional Hindu ceremony at an exclusive hotel resort in India’s Rajasthan.

While the festivities commenced on the grounds of the Amaan-i-Khas resort in the deeply wooded Ranthambore National Park, a tiger reserve some 100 kilometers south of the fort city of Jaipur, the world’s media strained to catch a glimpse.

As the sounds of traditional Rajasthani music drifted from the dozen specially erected tents across the moonlit resort, over 80 international journalists, including 15 British photographers, jostled for space with their telephoto lenses at the gates of the complex, more than 150 meters away.

Private security guards, black screens and a mobile phone ban ensured a veil of secrecy over the wedding after exclusive publicity rights were sold to a London magazine.

“The wedding rituals began around 7 p.m. (9:30 a.m. EDT) and have now (been) completed,” Kajod Mal, a local police officer, told Reuters by telephone from Kotwali town, close to the wedding venue. “We sent some of our men there for security.”

Brand, who has been seen with henna patterns on his hands, arrived on a decorated horse for the wedding, flanked by camels and elephants, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

Other reports said Barbadian pop star Rihanna played the maid of honor as a priest chanted Hindu hymns around a sacred fire.

As the sun set through the early evening, the guests, who are staying at two nearby resorts, arrived in cars with blacked-out windows. British singer-songwriter Noel Gallagher was reported to be attending the ceremony, as well as Brand’s close friend television presenter Jonathan Ross.

The couple, who landed in Mumbai on Thursday, reportedly chose the resort for their wedding after Brand proposed to Perry at the same location last December. Perry wore an Indian bridal nose ring as she passed through the airport.

On Friday, a Reuters witness said four photographers were attacked by a member of Brand’s security detail while trying to take pictures of the groom-to-be on a safari trip.

One of the actor’s bodyguards smashed camera equipment and injured one of the photographers before taking the keys to their vehicle, leaving them stranded in the tiger reserve.