Read PEOPLE's Cover Story About Their Glamorous Wedding in Italy! George and Amal Clooney Married 10 Years Ago

George and Amal Clooney tied the knot in high style in Italy in 2014, after first meeting through a mutual friend over dinner. As the couple celebrates their milestone 10th wedding anniversary, take a look back at PEOPLE's coverage of their their lavish, multi-day wedding extravaganza in Venice.

George Clooney doesn’t get upstaged much, but he gladly ceded the spotlight on his wedding day.On Sept. 27, the dashing Oscar winner slipped on a Giorgio Armani tuxedo and, escorted by his mom, Nina, walked down the aisle in a gilded hall at Venice’s historic Aman Canal Grande hotel. The groom’s entrance was greeted by enthusiastic clapping from about 100 close friends and family gathered for the (epically) romantic occasion.

But it was hardly the main event. That came when a string ensemble struck up “Here Comes the Bride” and the day’s real star took center stage: Amal Alamuddin, the British human rights lawyer who has made an honest man of one of the world’s most famously single guys, walked in on the arm of her father, Ramzi, looking stunning in a French lace Oscar de la Renta gown.

The crowd went wild and then watched as the pair exchanged vows in a traditional ceremony presided over by their friend, former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, and sealed with a lengthy kiss.

Cue more cheers from the guests, who were matched in their enthusiasm by the blissful groom. So, what’s it like to be George Clooney, husband? “It feels,” the star tells PEOPLE, “pretty damn great.”

Despite all the glamour, the marriage of George and Amal was a family affair. The couple’s platinum wedding bands were presented by Alamuddin’s 6-year-old twin ring-bearing nephews Jad andSari. And four speakers — including Alamuddin’s mom, Baria, and Clooney’s dad, Nick — delivered heartfelt speeches during the 30-minute ceremony.

“I welcomed the Clooney family into ours,” Baria, an editor at the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, tells PEOPLE. “I said, ‘George, we love you truly, deeply and sincerely. We enjoy your charm, your wit, intelligent conversation and generosity. You are simply perfect.’ ”

Simply perfetto also sums up the four-day, multiparty wedding extravaganza in Italy’s famed Floating City. An international blend of haute couture, high spirits and Hollywood charm, the rolling festivities played like scenes from one of Clooney’s elegantly made films.

Even Mother Nature nailed her role, delivering picture-perfect sunsets over the ancient palaces and canals. “Venice is the most romantic city in the world,” says Clooney, “and we couldn’t think of a better place to get married.”

The city did not disappoint, with fans and photographers crowding the Grand Canal — on which the wedding party commuted throughout the weekend aboard a flotilla of classic wooden watertaxis — for a glimpse of the dolce vita pageantry. At the heart of the spectacle were the bride, 36, and groom, 53, whose happiness was on display on land and sea.

“George and Amal present us with … belief that in this place and at this moment,” Nick said in his speech, “love is alive and well.”

The entire affair — which wrapped on Sept. 29 with a civil ceremony at the Venice town hall — brought the couple’s yearlong, around-the-world romance fittingly full circle. “We met in Italy,” says Clooney, who has long owned an estate on Lake Como. “We have a home there. We knew that was where we wanted to get married.”

And they knew they wanted to be surrounded by those closest to them, including famous friends (Matt Damon, Bono), longtime buddies (Clo -

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oney’s close friend John Lambros joked that the actor is so loyal, 20 years “affords me the friend status of rookie”) and a mix of loved ones representing more than 20 different nationalities.

The couple tapped family friend Nora Sagal, the daughter of entertainment executive David Sagal, to sing the Irving Berlin standard “Always” at the ceremony (the same song Nick and Nina danced to at their wedding) and Cole Porter’s “Why Shouldn’t I?” for their first dance at the reception.

Seated in the 16th-century palazzo turned hotel, guests feasted on a “classic Italian” menu, as Clooney describes it, featuring dishes such as lemon risotto with lobster and Chianina beef with porcini mushrooms, and paired with plenty of vino, Alain Navarre champagne and Casamigos tequila, which is produced by the actor and his friend Rande Gerber.

“It’s Italy, so of course we had wine,” says Clooney, “but we thought we’d fly a little of our own tequila out as well.”

The last guests trickled out at almost 5 a.m. “Family and friends danced the wedding night away,” says Baria, “congratulating each other and expressing the extreme joy at a union that gave all joy and hope of what true love is.”

When the Beirut-born, London-bred attorney and the Kentucky-reared star first crossed paths, Clooney’s reputation as one of Hollywood’s most longstanding bachelors was not lost on those closest to Alamuddin.

“I have to admit, that caused some motherly panic,” the bride’s close friend Jae Kim shared in a ceremony speech. “ ‘Is she going to get hurt? He isn’t exactly Mr. Commitment,’ I thought.”

But those fears were quickly dispelled. “You could see in the way he held himself, treated her and others and enjoyed life that his heart was big and he loved her with all of it,” recalled Kim.

The effect was evident on Alamuddin as well: She quit smoking (“cold turkey!”) and, uncharacteristically, “ever since she met George, she has been on time,” joked Kim. But most of all, she added, “I had never seen her smile like that. She has had that smile now for almost a year straight!”

Naturally that smile was in dazzling form throughout the wedding weekend, with Alamuddin earning admiration for everything from her Princess Kate–rivaling tresses to her off-the-runway fashion.

Clooney too “was the happiest I have ever seen him,” says Giovanni Fracassi, owner of DaIvo restaurant, where the actor enjoyed a boys’ night on the eve of the wedding. (The women celebrated at the Aman, where Alamuddin spent her last evening as a single lady, while Clooney stayed at the Belmond Hotel Cipriani.)

At the post-wedding party on Sunday night at the historic Granaries of the Republic, guests including Bill Murray and Bono offered toasts. Did the attendees take anything home? “Other than a hangover? Yes,” cracks Clooney, whose favors included iPods loaded with songs selected by the couple.

Following their brief civil ceremony, the newlyweds jetted off. The over-achieving duo, who share a common passion for human rights causes — “Perhaps the first husband-and-wife team to win the Nobel Prize for peace?” Lambros ventured — are headed for a quick honeymoon.

“Then we both go right back to work,” says Clooney. What are they most looking forward to as their married life begins? Easy, says Clooney: "We're looking forward to everything."

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