SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Elizabeth Taylor, a 'marrying kind of woman,' may have to shout her vows Sunday to be heard over the helicopters sure to invade her wedding to a construction worker in her eighth trip down the aisle.
If all goes as planned in this mother of all weddings, the 59-year- old bride, wearing a pale yellow dress, will become Mrs. Larry Fortensky at a little past 5 p.m., just as white doves are released into the sky and trumpets begin to blare.
The ceremony is being held at pop star Michael Jackson's 2,700-acre ranch, an estate fittingly named Neverland Valley and populated by a giraffe and other exotic animals.
Cynics have likened it to Cleopatra marrying Stanley Kowalski on the set of Peter Pan.
In any case, the Academy Award-winning actress and her groom, who is 20 years her junior, will be surrounded by 160 guests said to include former President Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy, actor Roddy McDowall, artist David Hockney and singer Janet Jackson.
Marianne Williamson, a lecturer and self-described 'spiritual psychotherapist' who is considered Hollywood's guru of the moment, will perform the ceremony.
Williamson is certain to need a microphone, given plans by at least one tabloid, the Globe, to have two choppers aloft. Another tabloid, the Star, has rented a hot-air balloon.
Jackson, who is giving the bride away, reportedly hired some of his own helicopters to chase the paparazzi away.
In an interview on the eve of the wedding, Taylor answered the question on everyone's mind: Why take husband No. 7?
'Well, I've been single for 10 years. I always thought -- knowing my nature as a 'marrying kind of woman' -- that I would try, just one more time, before I die. And this is it,' she told columnist Liz Smith.
Smith obtained exclusive rights to cover the spectacle after promising to donate an undisclosed portion of proceeds from the sale of her articles to AIDS research, a cause espoused by Taylor.
Taylor, who met Fortensky while both were undergoing drug treatment at the Betty Ford Center, told Smith how she came to be romantically involved with the twice-divorced father of a teenage daughter.
'You get to know someone real fast when you are in group therapy with them, in a recovery program. All the B.S. is stripped away. We just started instantly to know each other,' she said.
'He knew I could see through him and I knew he could see through me, so it was elemental,' she continued. 'They tell you in recovery not to get romantically involved for a year at least, so nothing happened there. (But) Larry and I did not wait a year.'
After the nuptials, Taylor is scheduled to return to promotions for her new perfume, White Diamonds. Fortensky is expected to accompany her.
Fortensky, however, has a 2-year-old bench warrant for his arrest still outstanding. He was ordered to join a three-month program after his 1987 conviction for drunken driving. Taylor's lawyer has said Fortensky thought his stay at the Ford clinic had met that requirement.
Because coverage of the event has been so limited and with florists and caterers apparently sworn to secrecy, plenty of rumors circulated in the press in the weeks leading up the marriage, including:
--Taylor proposed to Fortensky over hamburgers in a coffee shop.
--Bubbles, Jackson's chimp, will dress up in a tuxedo and act as ring bearer.
--Jackson had a $200,000 garden planted just for the event.
Taylor married hotel scion Conrad Hilton Jr. in 1950, actor Michael Wilding in 1952, producer Mike Todd in 1957, singer Eddie Fisher in 1959, actor Richard Burton in 1964 and 1975, and Sen. John Warner in 1976. Wilding, Todd and Burton have died.