Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar may have looked tired and drawn as they struggled through the arrivals lounge at Bombay Airport today - but their extraordinary wedding celebrations have only just begun.

Wearing a patterned white summer dress with matching handbag and dark sunglasses, the Austin Powers actress was on her way to three nights of back-to-back parties with her new husband in his native Bombay and then at the desert town of Jodhpur in central Rajasthan.

The couple have already had two nights of "quiet" celebrations after a secret wedding ceremony at Sudeley Castle, in Gloucestershire.

But the pair will enjoy their biggest soirees yet in a celebrity-addicted country, where an entourage of English guests of film and music will mingle with India's aristocracy.

Tonight, they are expected to attend a “haldi” ceremony, where a paste of turmeric, milk and cream is applied to the bride and groom, before meeting Mr Nayar’s relatives for a formal dinner at Bombay city.

Tomorrow, the festivities will continue in India's film and financial capital before the couple decamp to Jodhpur on Wednesday for more receptions culminating in the traditional Indian wedding at the 15th-century Meherangarh Fort.

Speaking from Jodhpur, Jeremy Page, The Times correspondent covering the Indian leg of the wedding, said the visit had generated huge publicity among India's celebrity-obsessed middle class.

"Middle class Indians who you ask say they are very excited about it, and it's certainly caused a media sensation," he said.

"Nayar is part of the Bombay set, and so the Bombay media has gone crazy about it.

"She (Hurley) is one of the biggest woman stars to have married an Indian, so it has caused huge interest."

Despite the back-to-back coverage, however, media access to the parties over the next three nights will be restricted as the couple have sold the rights to their ceremony to Hello magazine.

Today, Reverend John Partington, the vicar for the Cotswold town of Winchcombe, described the couple’s church blessing on Saturday evening for the first time, saying had been “relatively modest”.

He said Sudeley Church was decorated with white flowers as guests packed the pews, with more seating in a tent outside.

Hurley, 41, and Nayar, 42, exchanged vows in a traditional style wedding ceremony, before the celebrity-packed congregation - including Sir Elton John and Elle Macpherson - sang three hymns.

The couple's officially marriage ceremony took place in a secret civil ceremony in one of the Sudeley Castle’s licensed rooms on Friday.

Rev Partington, 50, said: “I did not stay for the reception afterwards but the church service was certainly not ostentatious.

“I am not the best person for recognising celebrities, but I did see Sir Elton John. I did not see Hugh Grant and I was told he did not attend.

“The congregation sang three hymns - Love Divine, Praise My Soul The King of Heaven and Now Thank We All Our God.

“The church was entirely full - the charming couple looked very happy.

“It was an extraordinary day for Winchcombe but I am always busy on weekends, so there is nothing new there, really.”

Sir Elton arrived at Sudeley Castle in a purple helicopter before singing at a party following the church service.

Officials at Sudeley Castle said it would take engineers “several days” to take down the huge marquee in the castle’s grounds.

The newlyweds left Gloucestershire yesterday before boarding the overnight flight to Bombay.

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