logo
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez 'dial down the bling' on Venice wedding after furore around THAT all-female space flight... but it'll still cost nearly £10m, ALISON BOSHOFF reveals

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez 'dial down the bling' on Venice wedding after furore around THAT all-female space flight... but it'll still cost nearly £10m, ALISON BOSHOFF reveals

Daily Mail​4 days ago

The eyes of the world will inevitably be on Venice later this month when financial colossus Jeff Bezos marries fiancee Lauren Sanchez.
Everyone in the Italian city is expecting a staggering display of wealth from Amazon-founder Bezos, with money to burn, and Ms Sanchez, who looks like she enjoys lighting the match.
And yet, despite the huge wealth and profile of the couple and their celebrity guests, it can be revealed that this will be a publicity-shy and surprisingly small event. Modest, even.
With fewer than 200 guests – a fraction of what was expected – and a final bill which is said to be less than £10million, it is clear that the bride and groom are dialling down on the bling.
As an impeccably placed source tells me: 'The wedding has had a make-under.' Indeed, the event is going to cost the equivalent of loose change for the groom, who is worth $220billion and spends $34million a year just to run his yacht – the $500 million Koru.
The yacht will be moored at San Basilio – the closest the giant vessel can get to the centre of Venice due to regulations to protect the city's fragile ecosystem – and be in sight of the Hotel Cipriani, where many guests will be lodged.
It's thought Jeff, Lauren and their immediate families will stay on the nine-bedroom yacht. Other guests will be split between the Cipriani and Aman hotels nearby. The only famous couple definitely going are actor Orlando Bloom and his wife Katy Perry. Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian are invited, but their attendance has not been confirmed.
Instead, the guests of honour will be Bezos' mum, Jackie, who had Jeff when she was 17, and his adoptive father and life-long inspiration, Mike Bezos.
The island of San Giorgio Maggiore will potentially be the destination for the couple's nuptials
The couple loaned him $245,000, their life savings, to start Amazon in 1995 and Mike, who now runs the Bezos family foundation, is a particularly impressive individual, having emigrated to the US alone from Cuba aged 16.
So why the – relatively – humble plans? I understand part of the reason was the PR disaster of the all-female Blue Origin 'space flight' in April – when Lauren and her five crew, including Perry, donned skin-tight space suits to blast to the edge of the Earth's atmosphere. The project attracted huge criticism for being a meaningless stunt.
I am told the couple have not sent paper or email invitations, the better to sail under the radar. And they have trimmed their guest list to the bare bones. 'It is very sweet, very understated,' says a guest. 'It is not an ostentatious blow out.
'They understand that the space flight criticism was bad for a reason and are responding to it by being less 'Marie Antoinette'.'
The source adds: 'People really underestimate Lauren and Jeff. Truly, they are good people. They don't want the wedding to be a lightning rod for inequities in the world. It's just a wedding.' That's as maybe, but the celebrations are still expected to take place at jaw-droppingly beautiful – and exclusive – locations.
Sources in Venice believe the nuptials will happen at the Fondazione Cini – a monastery on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Crucially, it will be free on June 25 – the most likely day of the wedding – as it is closed to the public on Wednesdays.
Having twice hosted the G7 summit, it can offer complete security and privacy and is close to where the Koru will dock.
Sources also expect celebrations at the palazzo apartment owned by Bezos' close friend Diane von Furstenberg. Local sources indicate that all 79 rooms of the fabled Hotel Cipriani have been block booked from June 24-26. A suite in high season costs around £20,000 a night. The Cipriani boasts the largest swimming pool in Venice and the Casanova gardens, where the infamous seducer used to meet his conquests.
The couple are also believed to have booked out the Aman Canal Grande, the 24-bedroom palazzo where George Clooney tied the knot with lawyer Amal in 2014.
Plans are being co-ordinated with the mayor of Venice's office to minimise disruption but some locals concerned about overtourism are planning protests.
'This city is not for sale, it is not a playground for the rich,' said activist Ruggero Tallon.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Lidl is selling a Salter XL Dual air fryer for £80 cheaper than Currys – exact date it hits stores
Lidl is selling a Salter XL Dual air fryer for £80 cheaper than Currys – exact date it hits stores

The Sun

time14 minutes ago

  • The Sun

Lidl is selling a Salter XL Dual air fryer for £80 cheaper than Currys – exact date it hits stores

SHOPPERS are racing to buy this kitchen must-have. Both Lidl and Currys are selling this air fryer - same brand, same model - but Lidl is offering it for £80 less. This 15L Salter air fryer will soon be available for £79.99 with the Lidl Plus app - half the price it's currently selling for at Currys. It has six cooking functions, including a rotisserie option, and comes with both sync cook (for preparing different foods at once) and match cook (for doubling up on portions with the same settings). The appliance has a sleek digital LED display with touch controls. It also includes a range of dishwasher-safe accessories - such as two cooking racks, drip trays, a divider, a rotisserie bar. This countertop oven comes with a one-year warranty. The Salter air fryer lands in Lidl stores on June 22. The German retailer is also selling a number of barbecue essentials at a low price. For example, Lidl's Grillmeister Foldable Barbecue is going for £14.99 with the app, down from its regular price of £19.99. The budget-friendly grill is available nationwide from June 12 to 18. Meanwhile, Lidl's Grillmeister 3-in-1 Smoker Grill is available for £39.99. Cheapest supermarket revealed and Wetherspoons axe fan favourite menu item It has two levels with separate grates, making it suitable for cooking for gatherings. The retailer's Grillmeister Ceramic Barbecue is currently priced at £79.99. The compact ceramic barbecue can smoke, bake, grill and cook at high temperatures. Lidl's sell-out pizza oven, which reaches 400°C in 15 minutes, is also back. Lidl is a German discount retailer, owned by the Schwarz Group - the biggest European retailer. Across the UK alone, Lidl has nearly 1,000 stores - the vast majority of which are located in England. As per the latest data, Lidl employs over 31,000 people in the UK. In 2023, it was named the most trustworthy supermarket in the UK by the Ethical Commerce Alliance. How to compare prices to get the best deal JUST because something is on offer, or is part of a sale, it doesn't mean it's always a good deal. There are plenty of comparison websites out there that'll check prices for you - so don't be left paying more than you have to. Most of them work by comparing the prices across hundreds of retailers. Here are some that we recommend: Google Shopping is a tool that lets users search for and compare prices for products across the web. Simply type in keywords, or a product number, to bring up search results. Price Spy logs the history of how much something costs from over 3,000 different retailers, including Argos, Amazon, eBay and the supermarkets. Once you select an individual product you can quickly compare which stores have the best price and which have it in stock. Idealo is another website that lets you compare prices between retailers. All shoppers need to do is search for the item they need and the website will rank them from the cheapest to the most expensive one. CamelCamelCamel only works on goods being sold on Amazon. To use it, type in the URL of the product you want to check the price of. 2

Deal of the Day: Apple AirPods Pro 2 are 32% off right now
Deal of the Day: Apple AirPods Pro 2 are 32% off right now

NBC News

time17 minutes ago

  • NBC News

Deal of the Day: Apple AirPods Pro 2 are 32% off right now

If you commute in a major city, chances are you see a lot of people wearing Apple AirPods. There's a good reason for that: we've tested them for years, and they are one of the best earbuds for iPhone owners. And they are back at $169 right now, that's 32% off. They are a worthwhile investment if you've been thinking about getting new wireless earbuds. Apple AirPods Pro 2 deal 4.6-star average rating from 29,145 reviews on Amazon The Apple AirPods Pro 2 is one of our top headphone recommendations and an NBC Select Wellness Awards winner. Multiple NBC Select staffers use them for everything: commuting, working out, relaxing, interviewing sources, you name it. They have great sound quality, excellent noise-cancelling and transparency modes and easy to use on-ear controls. Paired with an iPhone, they have additional features like Apple's Find My app and Hearing Aid support. The earbuds get up to six hours of battery life alone and up to 30 hours with the charging case. The earbuds come with four rubber ear tip sizes and a small charging cable in the box. Want more from NBC Select? Sign up for our newsletter, The Selection, and shop smarter. Why trust NBC Select? I'm a reporter at NBC Select who covers technology and fitness including recent stories on smartwatches, running shoes, cameras and more. For this piece, I checked Apple AirPod Pro 2 prices and price history across multiple retailers to find the best deal. Catch up on NBC Select's in-depth coverage of tech and tools, wellness and more, and follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok to stay up to date.

Dua Lipa confirms long-speculated engagement to actor Callum Turner
Dua Lipa confirms long-speculated engagement to actor Callum Turner

The Independent

time37 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Dua Lipa confirms long-speculated engagement to actor Callum Turner

Dua Lipa has confirmed her engagement to the English actor Callum Turner, months after speculation began. She went on the record about the engagement in a cover story for British Vogue 's July issue, published Thursday, calling it 'very exciting.' The 29-year-old said she was obsessed with the ring Turner had made for her. 'It's so me. It's nice to know the person that you're going to spend the rest of your life with knows you very well,' she told the magazine. Fans had theorized the ring Lipa began sporting in photos at the end of December signaled an engagement, but the pair did not publicly confirm the rumor for months, even after appearing together at last month's Met Gala. Lipa says they haven't set wedding plans yet — she's still on tour and Turner is filming, 'so we're just enjoying this period,' she told British Vogue, adding that they try not to spend more than 2 ½ weeks apart. Images of Lipa and Turner, 35, together began surfacing in January 2024. She told British Vogue that they had initially met at a London restaurant, before reconnecting during a dinner in L.A., where they learned they were both reading the same book: Hernan Diaz's 'Trust,' a Pulitzer Prize winner. (Lipa runs the influential Service95 Book Club.) The London-born, British Albanian powerhouse is credited with revitalizing a kind of energetic disco-pop sound in the mainstream, beginning with the release of her 2017 self-titled album and carrying throughout 2020's 'Future Nostalgia' and 2024's 'Radical Optimism.' 'Dance music has such a long history of creating such a safe space. And I just want to embody that,' she told The Associated Press last year. Across her career, Lipa has won three Grammys and boasts five top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: 2017's 'New Rules,' 2019's 'Don't Start Now,' 2020's 'Levitating,' 2021's 'Cold Heart (PNAU Remix)' with Elton John, and 2023's 'Dance the Night,' from the star-studded 'Barbie' soundtrack. Turner is known for his roles in the 'Fantastic Beasts' movies as well as the George Clooney-directed 'The Boys in the Boat' and World War ll drama series 'Masters of the Air' on Apple TV+.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store