Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise married 17 years ago in a lavish wedding hosted in a castle in Rome. The event cost over 3 million dollars and was attended by guests like Jennifer Lopez, David and Victoria Beckham, Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, and more.

Robert Evans, one of the event’s photographers, recently discussed what it felt like to be a part of such a memorable occasion.

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In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Evans discussed his experience meeting Tom Cruise. “When I met him for the first time, he was very excited to meet me,” he said. “It was around the time he was kinda getting the bad press for the couch-jumping thing. But he was super-nice. He was like: ‘I’m so happy to meet you! When I saw your book, I was like: That’s my guy! That’s my guy!’ He was excited about it. I’m meeting Tom Cruise for the first time, this is within the first minute of us meeting, and I was like ... ‘Thank you?’ I’m not great with compliments.”

Evans shared he covered two days of events before the actual wedding, and that there were around 150 people invited. When discussing the couple itself, he said, “It seemed very real and natural to me. They just seemed like they were having a great time and they were in love. Obviously I’m not thinking about that [while I’m working], but you are observing and you see it. But then the pictures reflect it. I guess they’re actors; they could have been faking it. But I just go there and do my job and shoot what I see.”

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Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ relationship

Cruise and Holmes were one of Hollywood’s most discussed couples, marrying within a year of meeting each other. The two gushed about each other publicly, with Cruise memorably jumping on Oprah’s couch. "When I met Tom, I was completely in love, and, yes, I admired him growing up — he's Tom Cruise!"said Holmes to T: The New York Times Style Magazine, as reported by PEOPLE. The two were together for almost six years, divorcing in 2012. They share Suri Cruise, who is now 17 years old.

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