The big surprise news of the New Year was Hamasaki Ayumi’s Las Vegas wedding. Ayu (32) and Los Angeles-based Austrian actor Manuel Schwarz (30) tied the knot on New Year’s Day in a small chapel in the Nevada city. The couple met last August in L.A. when he was cast as her bridegroom in a promotional film for her song “Virgin Road.” Ayu wore a wedding dress when she performed the song on NHK’s “Kohaku Uta Gassen” on New Year’s Eve (photo left). She was less formally attired in a surprisingly candid shot released this week (photo right).
On New Year’s Day, the pair were spotted by reporters at Narita Airport on their way to the U.S. It wasn’t until the next day, Japan time, that Hamasaki’s fans learned of the Las Vegas chapel wedding via her online “Team Ayu” fan club. She referred to ‘Manny’ as her “Last Angel,” a reference to another of her songs.