"Goodnight, Sweet Anna Baby": Smith's Sentimental Send-Off

Anna Nicole Smith, hailed as a small-town girl who "stumbled over the rocks of life" toward unimagined celebrity and terrible tragedy, embarked on her final red carpet ride Friday.

Twenty-two days after her sudden and unexpected death, nearly all of which were spent in a tumultuous legal tug-of-war over the disposition of the late model's remains, Smith was laid to rest alongside son Daniel in the Bahamas. (See Anna Nicole: Rest in Peace, our gallery of photos from today's events.)

Her constant companion, Howard K. Stern, was joined by Smith's close friends, including former lover Larry Birkhead, and members of her family, led by mother Virgie Arthur, for the private graveside burial, shielded from the media and gawkers by giant green canopies. Five-month-old Dannielynn was not present for the service.

The interment, which took place just after 2 p.m. local time, followed a memorial service at Nassau's Mount Horeb Baptist Church that lived up to its "over-the-top" billing, complete with pink decor, giant bouquets, soaring choir, country-music star and even Slash from Guns N' Roses.

The ceremony began about 11:15 a.m., nearly an hour later than scheduled, and was attended by the temporarily peaceful factions headed by Stern, Birkhead and Arthur—there were between 100-150 mourners in all, including Slash, Smith's former assistant Kimmie Walthers and TrimSpa CEO Alex Goen. (For a guide to all the major players, check out our Anna Nicole cheat sheet.)

The holdup was caused by a last-ditch, ultimately failed legal effort by Arthur to halt the funeral.

Smith's casket was carried over a red carpet and into the church by six pallbearers, including her attorney Ron Rale, former bodyguard Maurice "Big Moe" Brighthaupt and Houston police officer Troy Hollier.

Before commencing, Richard Milstein, the Miami lawyer appointed to serve as guardian to Smith's five-month-old daughter during legal proceedings in Florida, spoke briefly to reporters and a throng of fans.

Milstein said people the world over gather to "provide respect, solemnity and a final resting place for their loved ones," and that today was no different.

"With all of the publicity and all of the press of the past, Ms. Smith sought seclusion and solace here in the Bahamas," he said. "Unfortunately, at a time when life should have been reaching its highest peak for her, she received both a blessing and a curse."

"She joyously gave birth to her only daughter, Dannielynn, and devastatingly, three days later, she lost her only son, Danny. If one were to write a Greek tragedy, one could not write a script as sorrowful and as hurtful as this.

"Today, we share our grief with all of you. We come here to carry out the final, most sacred and solemn act...to lay Anna Nicole in her final resting place."

Kathryn Beranich, the E! Studio production director who oversaw The Anna Nicole Show and was present for the funeral, said Smith's mahogany casket remained closed for the duration of the ceremony.

Beranich also said Birkhead and Stern, who were sitting just a row away from each other and who spoke frequently during the service, and Arthur, who was on the opposite side of the church and did not interact with the two men, all stood up to give eulogies between performances by country singer Joe Nichols, whom Stern had personally requested for the service.

Nichols sang two songs during the memorial: his own "I'll Wait for You," a favorite of Smith, and Dolly Parton's "Wings of a Dove." Nichols and Smith met in 2005 at the Grand Ole Opry, and Smith reportedly became an instant fan.

"It was serious," Beranich said of the service. "Everyone was overwhelmed with sadness. There were moments when different people would break down and cry."

Beranich said that Birkhead's demeanor was "sad" but that he was "celebrating the Anna he knew. Everyone there cared about Anna in their own way."

According to Beranich, Birkhead's eulogy centered on the more small-town side of Smith, one that was not always apparent to the public. He spoke of a time he caught Smith stealing ketchup packets, something she said reminded her of her humble upbringing. He ended his "touching" time at the podium by saying goodbye to Smith in the way he used to every night.

"Goodnight, sweet Anna baby," he said.

Stern's eulogy, in which she called Smith "one of the smartest people I know," was also deemed "moving," while Arthur's teary remembrance centered around the theme of Smith "stumbling over the rocks of life" and made mention of her daughter's large, loving family.

Beranich said that neither Stern nor Birkhead spoke with Arthur throughout the ceremony and that Arthur was accompanied to the service by MSNBC's Rita Cosby.

After the threesome stood to speak, the minister took the opportunity to say a few words and, according to Beranich, "lambasted" the parties for preventing a more timely burial. Smith's close friends and family all nodded.

The minister also noted during the ceremony the final words Smith uttered to Dannielynn's Bahamian nanny (who, as it happens, is the mother of Shane Gibson, the Bahamian immigration minister who stepped down from his post last month in the wake of controversial photos surfacing of him and Smith).

The minister said before departing for Florida, Smith told the nanny, "If anything happens to me, take care of my baby."

At the end of the ceremony, black and pink lapel ribbons to be worn in honor of Smith were handed out to the guests.

Afterward, about two dozen people, including Stern, Arthur, Birkhead and Milstein, made their way to Nassau's Lakeview Memorial Gardens and Mausoleum, where Smith was buried in a plot adjacent to Daniel.

Meanwhile, select guests were scheduled to be shuttled to an afternoon reception hosted by Stern, which he and the rest of the burial party were to join after the burial.

Smith's ultimate journey began in the early-morning darkness of Fort Lauderdale, when at approximately 5:25 a.m., a motorcade procession transported her body from its temporary home at the Broward County Medical Examiner's office, where it has remained in a refrigerated chamber since her Feb. 8 death, to the Miami International Airport.

Two black hearses, three police escorts, 20 news trucks and six helicopters escorted Smith, who had been dressed in a beaded gown and tiara. Tending to her covered casket were Dr. Joshua Perper, the county's chief medical examiner who performed Smith's autopsy, and Milstein, who, as Dannielynn's guardian ad litem, was in custody of Smith's remains.

The plane touched down at the Bahamas' Millionaire Airport just after 9 a.m., at which point a second motorcade, complete with a fleet of white limousines, made its way to the church.

Birkhead was the first of the major parties to arrive, and he was greeted with cheers by the throng of mourners, fans and press. Stern was next, though he was given a much less welcome reception: His arrival was heralded by jeers.

Arthur, however, was tardy, beaten to the church by Smith's hearse. She had been at the Bahamian Supreme Court, seeking an emergency order to postpone the morning's events. However, shortly after 11 a.m., the court denied her bid, ensuring that both the memorial service and burial could go on as scheduled.

Earlier, Billy Wayne Smith, Smith's first ex-husband and the father of Daniel, who admitted in court he had not seen either party since 1988, joined Arthur in making an eleventh-hour appeal to the Bahamian chief magistrate, requesting permission to have Daniel Smith's body exhumed and transferred to Texas. So far, the courts have issued no response.

Preparations for the pink-themed service began Wednesday, when Florida's 4th District Court of Appeals denied Arthur's request to overturn Milstein's custody of Smith's remains.

The memorial was closed to most media outlets, aside from Entertainment Tonight, which had brokered a deal with Stern to have cameras inside the service.

But Patrik Simpson, a friend of Smith and the partner of Pol Atteu, who designed Smith's burial gown, told E! News this week the ceremony would befit Smith's larger-than-life personality and that mourners could expect an "over-the-top," "very Anna Nicole" service.

For more, check out:

• Anna Nicole: Rest in Peace, a gallery of funeral photos
  
• Anna Nicole: 20 Most Memorable Pics, a click-thru tribute
  
• Watch the E! News Special Anna Nicole: Rest in Peace, Friday at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT.