Is it just a celebrity birthday bash, or a smoke screen for a secret wedding between two of the hottest talents in the recording industry — Beyonce and Jay-Z? A spokesman for the R&B songstress on Thursday denied reports surfacing in gossip columns and the Internet this week that she and her rap star-turned-music executive boyfriend planned to quietly tie the knot this coming weekend. A spokeswoman for Jay-Z told Reuters she had no knowledge of impending nuptials for the couple. Beyonce, 25, who rose to fame as a charter member of the R&B group Destiny’s Child, said recently that she and friends were merely planning a birthday party for Jay-Z, who turned 37 on Monday.

Nevertheless, paparazzi were placed on high alert in the Caribbean after the New York Post reported on Wednesday that a planned four-day birthday bash was an elaborate ruse designed as a cover for a secret wedding. According to the Post, guests were invited to a party aboard a yacht anchored off St. Barts, from where they would be ferried to the nearby island of Anguilla for a wedding ceremony to be held at a luxury resort called Cap Juluca.