Inside TomKat's Scientology Ceremony

Wedding For Devout Follower Tom Cruise And Katie Holmes Has A Few Twists

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NEW YORK, Nov. 17, 2006 | by Caitlin A. Johnson

(CBS)  Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes will marry Saturday in a Scientology ceremony — a wedding that is full of mystery for most people.

A Scientology wedding shares many similarities with Christian or Jewish ceremonies that most Americans are familiar with, but it has some important differences.

"Much of it is more traditional that you'd think," Scientology minister Jeffrey Quiros told The Early Show national correspondent Hattie Kauffman. "The bride's family's on one side, the groom's on the other. There's a processional. The bride's father gives the bride away."

Theology professor Dr. Sarah Sumner says the big difference is the way Scientologists look at God.

"In a Christian wedding, the primary witness of the wedding is God himself and in a Scientology wedding, God is recognized as an abstraction," she said. There's not a personal God. So there is no presence of a deity. I think that's the biggest difference."

A basic tenet of Scientology is the ARC triangle which represents affinity, reality and communication.

"The bride and groom are reminded that it's through communication," Quiros said. "You're going to build mutual reality and respect for one another and build your affinity for one another and have a long lasting relationship."

Cruise and Holmes watchers predict the big Italian wedding is just a prelude to even bigger news.

"She's rumored to already be pregnant again," said Meaghan Murphy, a reporter for Star magazine. "She was seen at Barney's just last week and she was sporting a bump."

In the past two weeks, the couple has been seen at their son's football games, looking relaxed and enjoying the spotlight.

"Tom was just totally happy to sign autographs, take pictures with everyone, say hello to all the cheerleaders," Murphy said. "He was just about as friendly as can be."

With a wedding this high-profile, it's not surprising some of the spotlight is shining on the church of Scientology. One Scientology book has a thousand pages of ceremonies and sermons. There are five different types of weddings. Instead of "in sickness and health" the couple vows to share misery and triumph.

"The bride and groom are asked to vow to one another that they're never going to go to sleep, never going to close their eyes and sleep on a misunderstanding or disagreement or an argument, that they're going to communicate their way through it before they close their eyes," Quiros said. "Well, in one of the ceremonies, the minister asks the audience, 'These people have decided to spend their lives together. Do we agree?' And we ask the audience to participate. And sometimes they clap."

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