Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez 'are forced to make last-minute change to Venice wedding plan due to safety fears', ALISON BOSHOFF reveals
The $500 million yacht the Koru is the most visible indication of Jeff Bezos ' incredible wealth – and the plan was for it to moor at San Basilio in Venice for the duration of the festivities around his wedding to Lauren Sanchez this week.
But following lively protests in the city, and given heightened global concerns, the couple have decided that it's safer to stay in the seas off Croatia, where they are aboard the Koru now.
The plan now taking shape is for Lauren, Jeff and their family to helicopter in to Venice. The bride-to-be is a qualified helicopter pilot and a helicopter enthusiast.
But this will bring its own problems as there are very few helipads in the city.
Indeed there is no helipad on San Giorgio Maggiore, which is confirmed as the wedding venue for this coming Friday.
The couple may helicopter in to the helipad on the Lido and then take water taxis to their wedding which will be held reportedly in the amphitheatre which is in the grounds of the complex owned and run by the Cini Foundation on San Giorgio.
The island will be perfectly secure and easy to keep private as it is wholly owned by the Cini Foundation. It has twice previously hosted meetings of the G7 leaders.
There will also be a pre wedding event on Thursday and a post wedding party on Saturday, but plans for these remain unconfirmed at this late point and locals believe that the organisers, Lanza & Baucina, may even be ripping up their schedules and rethinking.
The $500 million yacht the Koru (pictured) is the most visible indication of Jeff Bezos' incredible wealth
Protesters display a banner reading 'No Space for Bezos!' on the Rialto Bridge during a protest against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' upcoming wedding to Lauren Sanchez being held in Venice, Italy, June 13, 2025
The wedding has already had a 'make-under' as following the hostile reception to Sanchez flight on the Blue Origin. Sources have stressed that it is a small-scale family wedding and not a showbusiness event.
Less than 200 guests are understood to have been invited. They will include Bezos' close friend Barry Diller and his wife Diane von Furstenburg, who has a palazzo of her own in Venice. The film producer Brian Grazer – who was with Jeff for his low key stag do in Madrid will also be there.
Since Friday, the distinctive three-masted Koru has been off the coast of Croatia, near Cres. Bezos and his family were pictured enjoying a 'foam party' on board on Sunday. Bezos, who is worth $224 billion, took delivery of the 413 foot yacht in the spring of 2023.
Greenpeace and the U.K.-based collective Everyone Hates Elon have joined protests in Venice attempting to disrupt, or even prevent, the planned wedding celebrations of Amazon founder Bezos this week.
On Monday, the two groups unfurled a giant banner in the lagoon city's iconic St. Mark's Square that reads: 'If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.'
'Jeff Bezos is the second-richest man in the world yet is reported to pay a 1.1% true tax rate,' the two groups said in a joint statement. 'The multi-million-dollar wedding is reportedly happening over three days, with the wedding ring alone worth as much as $5 million.'
A spokesperson from Everyone Hates Elon said: 'As governments talk about hard choices and struggle to fund public services, Jeff Bezos can afford to shut down half a city for days on end just to get married.'
Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro and regional governor Luca Zaia have spoken out in favor of the nuptials, which have been dubbed 'the wedding of the century,' pointing out that the celebrations are expected to bring €20-30 million ($23-34 million) to local businesses.
'This is a city that handles 150,000 people a day,' Zaia told Italian daily Corriere della Sera. 'George Clooney, François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek, Alexandre Arnault, Elton John and many others got married here.'
Bezos has also pledged to make sizable charity donations, including €1 million to Corila — an academic consortium dedicated to studying Venice's lagoon ecosystem — according to Corriere della Sera and Italy's ANSA news agency.
Earlier this month, anti-Bezos banners were hung in Venice from St. Mark's Tower with 'Bezos' in blue capital letters and a red X over it as part of a 'No Space for Bezos' campaign, a play on Bezos' Blue Origin spaceflight venture.
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