Politician weds Swarovski heiress

Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser, whose romantic involvements have made headlines for months, married crystal heiress Fiona Swarovski yesterday in a rain-soaked vineyard in the quaint Danube River village of Weissenkirchen, Austrian media reported.

The venue for Austria's wedding of the year had been kept a closely guarded secret to protect the pair from being pursued by paparazzi.

"The cat and mouse game with the public has come to an end," the Austria Press Agency said.

Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, parliament speaker Andreas Khol and other top politicians were among the guests at the wedding in drizzly weather in the picturesque town about 60 kilometres west of Vienna.

Italian celebrity photographer Massimo Gatti, a longtime friend of Swarovski's, served as her witness, and Walter Meischberger, a former politician for the rightist Freedom Party, did the honours for Grasser.

The couple was to be blessed by a priest in the town's Roman Catholic church and celebrate at a nearby restaurant.

In March, celebrity photographers caught Grasser, 36, kissing Swarovski, 40, at a Paris airport.