Intimate View Of Mary Kay Nuptials

ET's Jann Carl There As Letourneau, Fualaau Tie Knot

(CBS)  A relationship that survived seemingly insurmountable obstacles led to the altar Friday, and "Entertainment Tonight" was there as Mary Kay Letourneau and Vili Fualaau tied the knot.

ET's Jann Carl observes that Fualaau was just 12 when he began having a sexual relationship with his teacher, Letourneau. The affair led to pregnancies and prison. But somehow, Carl says, their love lasted, and now they're husband and wife.

The affair may have cost Letourneau seven-and-a-half years behind bars, but now she's living what she says is her dream, Carl remarks.

With their two daughters serving as flower girls, Letourneau and Fualaau exchanged their vows.

"I take you," Letourneau said, "to be my constant..."

The emotion of the moment caught in her throat, Carl observed.

But Letourneau was able to continue, voicing vows Carl describes as "gripping."

Letourneau said, "I will stay where you stay. I will die where you die."

And, Carl points out, this was no ordinary love story. What began as an illicit seduction ended in a tightly guarded ceremony, with nearly 200 guests being checked at the door for cameras and cell phones at the wedding's secret location, the Columbia Winery, near Seattle.

With the media and the paparazzi trying to follow every move, the bride had to take cover as she made her way to the ceremony. But the hounding by over-eager photographers couldn't keep Letourneau from glowing, even when a few accessories went missing.

"Oh my gosh, my earrings!" she exclaimed.

The earrings turned up, but Letourneau decided less is more, saying, "I almost like (the way I look) without earrings."

Serenading her little girls with the words, "I sing, because I'm happy," Letourneau's heart filled with joy as her troubles seemed a world away, Carl says.

Asked if the ceremony was everything they'd envisioned it to be, Fualaau responded, "With the both of us being here, yes, and the family, yes."

The only significant snafu? Letourneau had planned to walk down the aisle to the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," but that CD never made it to the ceremony, so the bride entered to "His Eye is on the Sparrow," a song she used to sing in the prison choir.

"It was a joyful evening," Carl says, despite the controversy surrounding the relationship. "They were surrounded by family and friends who were all very happy for them."

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