Celebrity couple Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban returned to Australia on Monday and confirmed they intend to tie the knot soon.
In a simple statement issued through Kidman's publicist, the pair said they had returned home to get married.
"We are very happy to be back in Australia," the film star and country music singer said in a brief joint statement.
"We have come home to celebrate our wedding with our family and friends."
While the date and venue are yet to be confirmed, the star of
The Hours and
Eyes Wide Shut is said to be planning a Catholic ceremony in Sydney on June 25.
Father Paul Coleman, a Jesuit priest and religious confidant to the star, refused to confirm details.
But he said he has met Urban, whom he described as a "wonderful chap."
Coleman had previously been quoted as saying a Catholic marriage ceremony would be a "spiritual homecoming" for Kidman, who was previously involved with the Church of Scientology, the faith championed by former husband Tom Cruise.
The priest confirmed Monday that the couple were preparing for marriage in the "tradition of the Catholic church".
"It's not a question of her coming back to the Catholic church. It's about the love and commitment they have for each other," he told AFP.
Media have reported that guests have been told to keep their diaries free for most of next week, and that they will only be told of the nuptials 24 hours ahead of the ceremony.
Kidman, a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Fund for Women, has reportedly provided guests with a list of charities and asked them to donate rather than present wedding gifts.
Kidman and Urban, both 38, met in January 2005 at a black-tie dinner in Los Angeles sponsored by the Australian government.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, who hosted the event, has been indirectly credited for the upcoming celebrations although he has not been invited to the wedding.
He told
The Australian newspaper he had followed developments in the couple's relationship "with some interest".
"I can't say I noticed any electricity when they met that night but my wife believes that they looked interested in each other. It's a woman's instinct, I think," he said.
Despite apparently planning to get married in Sydney, the couple intend to live in Nashville, Tennessee, where the Grammy-winning Urban is based.
"I've moved to Tennessee for my personal life. I'm establishing my new home there," Kidman told a press conference in Shanghai on Sunday.
Kidman's children from her 10-year marriage to Cruise, Isabella, 13, and Connor, 11, are expected to arrive in Sydney this week.
The couple arrived at Sydney's airport on Monday on Kidman's private Gulfstream jet after a stop in China, where the Oscar-winner was promoting her latest film,
The Lady From Shanghai.
Kidman confirmed her engagement to Urban, who was raised in Australia but born in neighbouring New Zealand, last month.
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