Sideshow: Expectant Beyonce steals show at MTV awards

Beyonce Knowles stole the show before it even started.

The soon-to-be-30 superstar arrived at Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards holding her bulging belly while dressed in a loose-fitting, flowing red gown. MTV tweeted the news, and photos confirming her motherly status soon circulated.

Suddenly Lady Gaga's much-hyped opening number, during which she performed as a greasy, leather-jacketed male alter ego, became less important.

Britney Spears was the night's first award winner; others included Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry, who won a trophy with Kanye West for her video "E.T."

Adele had perhaps the highlight of the night as the seven-time nominee delivered a powerfully understated performance of "Someone Like You," off her top-selling 21 album.

Other performers scheduled at the show at the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles included Spears, Chris Brown, and Lil Wayne. A tribute to Amy Winehouse by Tony Bennett was also planned.

Move over, Kim Kardashian Humphries. Your nuptials this month have been eclipsed by the three-day extravaganza for British heiress and socialite Petra Ecclestone. The 22-year-old daughter of former Armani model Slavica and billionaire Formula One CEO Bernie Ecclestone exchanged vows Saturday with businessman James Stunt just outside Rome. They married at Castello Orsini-Odescalchi, the castle where Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes also wed. Like Kimmie, Ecclestone wore a Vera Wang. Eric Clapton and the Black Eyed Peas performed, and Paris Hilton was spotted among the guests. Designer Ecclestone made news in the U.S. press in July when she purchased "The Manor," Aaron and Candy Spelling's former home in Los Angeles and L.A. County's largest residence, for $85 million.

In sharp contrast to Kimmie and Petra, Oscar winner Sofia Coppola and her rocker beau, Phoenix front man Thomas Mars, married Saturday in a civil ceremony in Italy. The filmmaker said "I do" at her family's villa in Bernalda, hometown of Coppola's grandparents. About 80 people attended the evening ceremony at Palazzo Margherita, owned by the bride's father, director Francis Ford Coppola, who walked his daughter down the aisle. The bride, 40, wore a lavender gown designed especially for her by Azzedine Alaïa. The ceremony was officiated by Bernalda's mayor, Leonardo Chiruzzi.

"Everything went well," Chiruzzi told the Associated Press. "It was simple, calm, in the garden."

The Help stayed Hollywood's top draw, with $14.3 million on a weekend when business was slowed on the East Coast as would-be moviegoers waited out Hurricane Irene. Colombiana, Zoe Saldana's action tale, opened in second. Guy Pearce and Katie Holmes' horror story, Don't Be Afraid of the Dark, opened in third place. Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a prequel to the 1968 classic, fell from second last week to fourth. Paul Rudd's comedy, Our Idiot Brother, premiered at No. 5.