Church and local officials are saying they won’t put their stamp of approval on Tom and Katie’s wedding, which is said to be taking place in the Italian town of Bracciano in just over a week. Tom and Katie haven’t filed the paperwork to make a civil marriage legal in Italy, and it sounds like they don’t have enough time left to do so:

The priest with jurisdiction over the dreamy lakeside castle tipped as the chosen location for the wedding says his parish won’t marry Cruise, and the mayor says she can’t because the couple haven’t done the official paperwork.

The small Italian town of Bracciano has been swimming with picture-snapping paparazzi since Il Messaggero newspaper reported that Castello Odescalchi in the town was chosen by the couple for their wedding later this month.

But rules of the local bureaucracy and the Roman Catholic Church appear to be a lot tougher than any of the macho super-secret spies Cruise’s character regularly defeats in the “Mission: Impossible” movies.

Mayor Patrizia Riccioni told Reuters she would like the wedding to take place, but that it was unlikely any celebration would be blessed with state recognition given that the couple have not provided the needed documents.

“I don’t think it will be legal,” she said. “On an Italian level, there are papers and documents that we certainly don’t have (for a wedding).”

But Cruise and Holmes’ Los Angeles-based publicist dismissed the notion that the American couple’s nuptials depended on official sanctioning by Italian authorities.

“They are making all the proper and necessary arrangements for their marriage to be legal,” said publicist Arnold Robinson.

Cruise and Holmes announced in October that they would marry on Nov. 18 in Italy, with Giorgio Armani designing Holmes’ gown.

Oops, it looks like Italy might not have been the best location for a wedding after all, if TomKat can’t get their act together enough to take care of all the red tape ahead of time.

Mike Walker of The National Enquirer offers a little more insight as to why the TomKat wedding might not be legal. A Roman Catholic official has to preside over a church wedding according to Italian law, but Tom wants to bend the rules of course and still have a Scientology-style church wedding instead of a civil one. He may have to get married to Katie in the states first to make it legal. Katie’s parents are not happy with that messed up Scientology-style mysoginistic wedding, and want a Catholic ceremony:

Despite reports that plans for how the ceremony will be conducted are set in stone, sources say Tom’s still pushing his people to cajole Italian authorities into bending the custom that a Catholic priest must “officiate,” or a big church wedding isn’t automatically legal! And it’s highly unlikely that a Catholic church would allow a Scientology minister to officiate. An Italian civil ceremony would legitimize the union, of course, but insiders say Tom’s okay with making it legal before a church wedding by having a prior U.S. civil ceremony. But Katie’s parents are NOT happy that he’s dead-set on a Scientology – officiated wedding, with a Catholic priest present only to “bless” the union. Mom and Dad keep repeating their heartfelt request: Let our daughter be married by a priest! Last-minute pleas are being beamed to CruiseControl… but so far, My Favorite Alien’s unbending.

Maybe Tom thinks that everyone will bend over backwards for him just like Madonna.

Here are Tom and Katie at the Black Ball in NYC yesterday. Iman and Alicia Keys hosted the event, and David Bowie performed. Anne Hathaway is also pictured. Proceeds went to the “Keep a Child Alive” foundation, which benefits AIDS victims.

Hopefully Tom will get his hair cut before the wedding. And is it just me, or does Katie look really annoyed like she’d rather be shopping? Pictures from KatieHolmes.com