Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez are having a luxury wedding. The internet is enraged.

USA Today

7 hours ago

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are gearing up for what will likely prove one of the most luxurious weddings of all time − and the internet already hates everything about it.
The couple, who went public with their relationship in 2019 and got engaged in 2023, will tie the knot in Venice, Italy, the city previously confirmed. Reuters and The New York Times report the three-day wedding will likely occur between June 26 and 28.
As the reported wedding day draws closer, the backlash online has only grown.
"This is what oligarchy looks like," one X user wrote. "I wonder how many kids could have been fed for the price of Jeff Bezos wedding?" wrote another. The nuptials have drawn in-person protests, too: Activists from Greenpeace Italy and the UK group "Everyone hates Elon (Musk)" unfolded a giant banner in central St Mark's Square on June 23 with a picture of Bezos laughing and a sign that reads: "If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax."
The strong reactions to luxury weddings, like Bezos and Sanchez's, point to deeper frustrations people have with their own economic situations, mental health experts explain.
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"A lot of people are feeling like they're stuck and they are living week-to-week, and people are feeling like they're not sure how they can make a difference," psychotherapist Stephanie Sarkis previously told USA TODAY. "Those feelings can be directed toward a person, especially when people don't feel like they have a voice or their voice has been blocked."
Why Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez's wedding struck a nerve
Though they've been tight-lipped about their nuptials, the billionaire Amazon founder, 61, and former television journalist, 55, are expected to spare no expense for their wedding. Regional governor Luca Zaia estimates the festivities to cost $23-$34 million.
After the ceremony − for which the exact location is currently unknown − the newlyweds and their guests will head to a hall of the Arsenale, a renovated maritime area on the outer edge of Venice. The vast 14th-century complex in the eastern Castello district, known for hosting the Venice Biennale art fair, is surrounded by water and impossible to reach by land when connecting bridges are raised.
"The organization (Bezos and guests) have categorically not booked large amounts of gondolas or excessive numbers of water taxis," the city of Venice said in a March statement. "It is their utmost priority to make sure the city functions as normal, for all, with no abnormal disruption to anyone."
Everything we know so far: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's wedding
Still, that hasn't deterred the couple's detractors, some of whom have taken to X to share how their lives are going by comparison. As one user put it: "Some 100 private jets will fly to Venice for Jeff Bezos' wedding, and I recycle yogurt cup lids." Locals have also threatened peaceful blockades against the event the day of, saying Venice needs public services and housing, not VIPs and tourism.
Erik Anderson, a licensed marriage and family therapist said there's multiple reasons why people have such a negative view of luxury weddings, the primary being that they serve as blunt reminders of how different life is for the mega-wealthy.
Many young people today, he added, are grappling with economic uncertainty and the feeling they were born in a situation in which the odds were stacked against them.
"One thing that's a major driver of people's resentment is the feeling that people are not going to be better off than their parents," Anderson previously told USA TODAY. "We kind of get into the psychology of comparison and how people measure themselves against other people in their community, including saying, 'Am I going to be better off than my parents or worse off than my parents?' "
Luxury weddings strike a particular nerve, Anderson added, when they involve the rich renting out exclusive access to things. You also saw this last year with the lavish wedding of Bilt Rewards CEO Ankur Jain and former WWE wrestler Erika Hammond, who got married in a four-day spectacle in Egypt that included a private tour of the pyramids and a special event at the Grand Egyptian Museum, which isn't yet fully open to the public.
"I think it really created a symbolic representation of, 'We are taking and then no one else can have it, and it also makes us feel special for no one else to be able to have it,' " Anderson said of Jain and Hammond's wedding extravaganza at the pyramids.
When this anger combines with the anonymity afforded by the internet, backlash is almost inevitable, Sarkis previously told USA TODAY.
What our anger says about us
Most people in America face financial burdens which contribute to mental health problems, Anderson previously told USA TODAY.
"Poverty itself can be a stressor," he said. "We essentially see that wellbeing correlates with income. So, basically, the larger the middle class, the more people there are who have a high level of wellbeing, and the smaller the middle class, the lower the wellbeing in the average population."
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Sarkis said it's important to take stock of your feelings when you get angry over a luxury wedding and see what's really behind them. You might find you're mad at something much bigger than Bezos, Sanchez or any particular individual.
"We can have a variety of feelings that come through that we don't necessarily take accountability for," she said. "And we really need to look at what is it that we're angry about, and is there anything we can do to change it?"
Contributing: Saman Shafiq, Anna Kaufman, Amanda Lee Myers, USA TODAY; Reuters