Nicole and Keith to marry in Australia

Sydney: Hollywood actress Nicole Kidman and her fiancé country music star Keith Urban said on Monday they had returned to Australia to be married.

"We are very happy to be back in Australia. We have come home to celebrate our wedding with our family and friends," the couple said.

Local media reported that Kidman and Urban were tipped to tie the knot at a Catholic church near her family home in Sydney's northern suburbs on the weekend.

Kidman's parents arrived at her harbour side home on Monday, smiling and saying they were happy to see their daughter, but refused to reveal any details of the marriage.

Tight security had been installed at Kidman's Sydney home, with a camera placed on the front gate and security guards on the street, to prevent paparazzi taking photographs.

The couple ended months of speculation last month when they announced they were engaged. Kidman and Urban, both aged 38, were brought up in Australia.

Local media, along with the Catholic Church's news web site www.catholic.org, have speculated that Kidman and Urban will marry on Sunday, June 25.

The Kidman family lives a few suburbs north of the chapel, and the parish is where Nicole and her sister went to school.

In January, Kidman mentioned the chapel as a possible wedding venue, said the Catholic News Service, adding Kidman, accompanied by her parents, Anthony and Janelle, attended Good Friday and Easter Sunday services there this year.

Kidman and Urban met in January 2005 at an awards dinner held by the Australian government in Los Angeles honoring the two of them.

During her marriage to Cruise, Kidman was introduced to scientology. However Father Coleman, who advised on Kidman's marriage annulment, said that the upcoming marriage to Urban showed that scientology had not undermined her Catholic faith.

"For Nicole, you know this is a spiritual homecoming, coming back to the church and her faith in her old parish," Coleman told Catholic News Service earlier this month.

The lack of a confirmation has not stopped a frenzy in the Australian media, with weekend newspapers reporting that guests had been sworn to secrecy and speculating on what kind of gown Kidman would wear.

The Sun-Herald newspaper said that guests would go into a "lockdown" in a luxurious Sydney hotel from Friday.

The guest list reportedly include Hollywood actors Naomi Watts Russell Crowe and Hugh Jackman, director Baz Luhrmann, and News Corp Ltd boss Rupert Murdoch and his wife Wendi Deng.