What was the rush?

Eddie Murphy hooked up with Tracey Edmonds not long after his affair with Melanie Brown (aka Scary Spice), which produced their daughter. (Mel's no slouch either, she hooked up with Harry Belefonte's son pretty quickly too.) Anyway, everyone's wondering why Tracey hitched her wagon to Eddie -- it ain't about cash -- she's loaded, as the ex and business partner of Babyface Edmonds.

Well, Eddie got hitched on New Year's Day... here's the scoop:

Eddie Murphy and Tracey Edmonds were married on New Year's Day on a private island off Bora Bora in French Polynesia in front of 25 friends and family, their reps tell PEOPLE. In a sunset ceremony on the beach Tuesday, Edmonds walked barefoot down the aisle to Gladys Knight's "Makings of You." The bride wore a custom-designed form-fitting dress by stylist and designer Sugia Nazel and Jill Baracci, designer and owner of Baracci boutique. Murphy wore a cream suit and vest with an off-white handkerchief. Among the guests were best man Johnny Gill, maid of honor Nicole Avant, matron of honor Julie Lev, as well as Edmonds's parents Jacqueline and George McQuarn, her brother Michael, Murphy's mother Lillian Lynch and his brother Vernon. Edmonds, 40, gave her bridesmaids gold and diamond earrings from XIV Karats in Beverly Hills, and Murphy, 46, gave his groomsmen D.Atlantis watches. The wedding was designed by event designer Colin Cowie, who created a gazebo on the beach made out of 6,000 shells for the ceremony. After the ceremony, guests celebrated at a private dinner and after-party, where DJ Darrin Ebron from Los Angeles kept the guests dancing. [people]