Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez marry in Venice
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez were married on June 27, 2025, in a private ceremony on San Giorgio Maggiore, a small island across from St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. The wedding was part of a multi-day celebration spanning June 26 to 28.
Around 200 to 250 high-profile guests were in attendance, including Oprah Winfrey, Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Gates, Tom Brady, and Queen Rania of Jordan.
The ceremony featured tight security, and part of the celebrations was relocated to the Venetian Arsenal due to safety concerns and to reduce disruption to the local area.
Lauren Sánchez wore a custom Dolce & Gabbana lace gown with a dramatic veil, reportedly inspired by Sophia Loren. The dress took over 900 hours to create. Following the ceremony, she shared a photo with Bezos and changed her social media handle to reflect her new name.
The couple's wedding weekend included themed parties, multiple outfit changes, and elaborate décor, with estimates placing the event's total cost between €40 million and €50 million.
Protests were staged by local activist groups criticizing the perceived privatization of Venice, rising wealth inequality, and overtourism. Demonstrations included floating effigies and banners across key landmarks.
Despite the criticism, local officials noted that the event brought substantial economic benefits to the city. Tourism-related revenue was estimated at nearly €1 billion, and the couple reportedly donated between €2 million and €3 million to support Venetian cultural preservation and lagoon conservation.
The wedding drew global media attention for its scale, celebrity presence, and location, balancing both admiration for its grandeur and debate over its broader cultural and civic impact.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Express Tribune
6 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez marry in Venice
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez were married on June 27, 2025, in a private ceremony on San Giorgio Maggiore, a small island across from St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. The wedding was part of a multi-day celebration spanning June 26 to 28. Around 200 to 250 high-profile guests were in attendance, including Oprah Winfrey, Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bill Gates, Tom Brady, and Queen Rania of Jordan. The ceremony featured tight security, and part of the celebrations was relocated to the Venetian Arsenal due to safety concerns and to reduce disruption to the local area. Lauren Sánchez wore a custom Dolce & Gabbana lace gown with a dramatic veil, reportedly inspired by Sophia Loren. The dress took over 900 hours to create. Following the ceremony, she shared a photo with Bezos and changed her social media handle to reflect her new name. The couple's wedding weekend included themed parties, multiple outfit changes, and elaborate décor, with estimates placing the event's total cost between €40 million and €50 million. Protests were staged by local activist groups criticizing the perceived privatization of Venice, rising wealth inequality, and overtourism. Demonstrations included floating effigies and banners across key landmarks. Despite the criticism, local officials noted that the event brought substantial economic benefits to the city. Tourism-related revenue was estimated at nearly €1 billion, and the couple reportedly donated between €2 million and €3 million to support Venetian cultural preservation and lagoon conservation. The wedding drew global media attention for its scale, celebrity presence, and location, balancing both admiration for its grandeur and debate over its broader cultural and civic impact.
Express Tribune
13 hours ago
- Express Tribune
Lavish Bezos wedding kicks off in Venice
Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos, 61, and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez, 55, kicked off a three-day wedding celebration with guests including Kim and Khloe Kardashian, and Oprah Winfrey, reported AFP. The sumptuous, secluded ceremony attended by celebrity friends on an island in Venice's lagoon, comes amid local criticism over its extravagance and ecological impact. Venice, home to the oldest film festival in the world, is used to VIPs whizzing around in speed boats, and happily hosted the star-studded nuptials of Hollywood actor George Clooney in 2014. But Bezos – one of the world's richest men and founder of a company regularly scrutinised for how it treats its workers – is different. And the festivities have sparked protests from environmentalists and locals who accuse authorities of pandering to the super rich while the city drowns under tourists. Wedding guests snapped by paparazzi as they hopped into boats included Jordan's Queen Rania, US football player Tom Brady, American fashion designer Spencer Antle, singer Usher, and Ivanka Trump – the daughter of US President Donald Trump. The celebrations are set to end on Saturday with a party likely at the Arsenale, a vast shipyard complex dating back to when the city was a naval powerhouse. Bezos and Sanchez are donating three million euros ($3.5 million) to the city, according to Veneto's regional president Luca Zaia, and are employing historic Venetian artisans. Venice's oldest pastry maker Rosa Salva is baking 19th-century "fishermen's biscuits" for party bags which will also contain something by Laguna B, renowned for its handblown Murano glass. Trump and her family visited a glass-blowing workshop on the small island of Murano on Wednesday, according to the owner. Some locals say the A-list guests and their entourages bring good business but critics have accused billionaire Bezos of using the UNESCO site as his personal playground. And environmental activists have also pointed to the carbon footprint of the mega yachts and dozens of private jets bringing the rich and famous to the canal city.
Business Recorder
a day ago
- Business Recorder
Bezos and Sanchez to exchange wedding vows in star-studded Venice party
VENICE: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez were set to exchange marriage vows at a ceremony in Venice on Friday, part of a three-day wedding extravaganza that has attracted dozens of celebrity guests but also protests by local activists. Bezos, 61, and Sanchez, 55, will exchange rings on the small island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark's Square, accompanied by singing from Matteo Bocelli, son of the famous Italian pop-opera tenor Andrea Bocelli. Jeff Bezos's gala wedding in Venice met with protestors The ceremony will have no legal status under Italian law, a senior city hall official told Reuters, suggesting that the couple may have already legally wed in the United States, avoiding the bureaucracy associated with an Italian marriage. The festivities, estimated to cost around $50 million, culminate on Saturday with a party in a former medieval shipyard where Lady Gaga and Elton John are reportedly set to perform. Bill Gates, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady, the queen of Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner and Kim and Khloe Kardashian as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and Domenico Dolce from Dolce & Gabbana are among the 200-250 guests. Amid tight security, there have been glimpses of the celebrities moving around town, the women in summer dresses and high heels stepping somewhat gingerly off boats ferrying them around the city's canals. Celebrations began on Thursday evening in the cloisters of Madonna dell'Orto, a medieval church in the central district of Cannaregio that hosts masterpieces by 16th-century painter Tintoretto. 'This magical place has gifted us unforgettable memories,' the bride and groom said on their wedding invitation, in which they asked for 'no gifts' and pledged charity donations for three Venetian institutions. Their donations are worth 3 million euros ($3.5 million). 'Gift-wrapped Venice' Businesses have welcomed the glitz and glamour but it is being resisted by a local protest movement whose members resent what they see as Venice being gift-wrapped for ultra-rich outsiders. Bezos is No. 4 on Forbes' billionaires list. Giulia Cacopardo, a 28-year-old representative of the 'No Space for Bezos' movement, complained that the needs of ordinary people were being neglected in a city that is a tourist magnet and fast depopulating largely due to the soaring cost of living. Venice's city centre has less than 50,000 residents, compared to almost 100,000 in the late 1970s. 'When you empty a city of its inhabitants, you can turn it into a stage for big events,' Cacopardo told Reuters. '(But) the money that Bezos spends on this wedding does not end up in the pockets of Venetians. The owners of luxury hotels are not Venetians.' Cacopardo was one of 30-40 activists who staged a protest in St Mark's Square on Thursday, chanting 'We are the 99%' as a masked couple posed as bride and groom and one man climbed a pole to unfurl a banner reading 'The 1% ruins the world'. Police intervened, forcibly removing the protesters. The anti-Bezos front is planning a march on Saturday, and their activities have already led authorities to step up security and move the location of Saturday's party to a more secluded part of Venice, the Arsenale former shipyard. But politicians, hoteliers and other Venice residents are happy about the wedding, saying that such events do more to support the local economy than the multitudes of day-trippers who normally overrun the city. 'We are happy and honoured to welcome Jeff Bezos and his consort Lauren Sanchez,' said Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who sent white roses to the bride and a maxi-bottle of Amarone luxury red wine to the groom. Italy's Tourism Ministry said it carried out a study estimating at 957 million euros ($1.12 billion) the overall economic impact of the wedding, including an 896 million euro benefit from 'media visibility', and the rest coming from direct or indirect spending related to the event. Bezos, Amazon's executive chair, got engaged to Sanchez in 2023, four years after the collapse of his 25-year marriage to MacKenzie Scott.
