The Bezos-Sánchez wedding woes are in a class of their own: Human blockades, yacht parking

Los Angeles Times

4 hours ago

Be glad you're not Jeff Bezos or Lauren Sánchez. Sure, being that rich would be awesome, but being rich comes with rich-people problems. With their Italian wedding imminent, they have a host of things to worry about that would never cross the imaginations of other, more average couples who don't have 12 digits representing their net worth.
Most details of the Venice fête are being kept close to the vest. A couple of local companies have confirmed they are contributing handcrafted glassware and local pastries to the wedding-favor goodie bags. Some guests' names leaked when the invites went out in March (we name-drop below, never fear).
But a few details that might be quite vexing to the bride and groom are playing out in public. Let's take a look.
All of Venice may not truly be ticked off, but photos, activists and media coverage make it seem that way.
Venice teacher and activist Marta Sottoriva called the wedding 'the symbol of all that is wrong with Venice.'
'There's a lot of anger in the air because once again the council has enslaved itself to the logic of profit — our city has been sold to the highest bidder,' she told the Guardian. 'Every time an event of this kind happens, the city comes to a standstill, certain areas become inaccessible and even more tourists arrive.' (Venice has been really annoyed lately by its number of tourists, kind of like the Louvre is really annoyed.)
But tourism councilor Simone Venturini was shocked that anyone might be upset that such a high-profile event was happening in the city.
'We should all be proud that the Bezos wedding, an event of international importance, is being held in the waters of our lagoon,' he told the Guardian. 'Instead, the usual protest professionals have wasted no time. We want to reiterate that Venice is open to everyone.'
Venturini was more colorful in speaking to the Wall Street Journal, saying, 'If Bezos' wedding goes ahead as planned, without these pain-in-the-ass protests, Venetian citizens won't even notice.'
The couple's London-based wedding planners, Lanza & Baucina, told CNN in a statement, 'Rumors of 'taking over' the city are entirely false and diametrically opposed to our goals and to reality.' They and the client, the planners said, wanted to minimize any disruption to the city.
That said, it's impossible to get a reservation this week at the Aman Venice, the nearly 500-year-old hotel on the Grand Canal where the happy couple are rumored to be staying, at least for part of their wedding week, along with a host of wedding guests. The place is fully booked through Sunday, per TMZ, at a reported $2,000 to $10,000 a night per room.
Forget throwing soup on the 'Mona Lisa' — the Bezos wedding protesters might do something truly offensive: They are threatening to screw up traffic on the big day.
'Bezos will never get to the Misericordia [event space],' activist Federica Toninello told an appreciative crowd last week, according to CNN. 'We will block the canals, line the streets with our bodies, block the canals with inflatables, dinghies, boats.'
Having just learned what the Misericordia is, we have no idea what role the location might play in the nuptials, but it looks like a nice enough spot for a reception. Fondazione Giorgio Cini, a cultural center built in 1951, has also been floated as a wedding venue. But let's get back to the blockades and such.
Another speaker at that same rally said she didn't want Venice remembered as a beautiful wedding venue but 'as the city that did not bend to oligarchs.'
'We can't miss a chance to disrupt a $10-million wedding,' Na Haby Stella Faye said — because, really, how often does that chance come around? Although her goal stated at the rally was 'to stop this wedding,' in her Instagram stories Monday, she was promoting a planned Saturday protest of Bezos, President Trump and, well, war.
Less aggressive protests include a host of banners and 'No Space for Bezos' posters that have been hung around the city. A colossal message from Greenpeace to Bezos was laid out Monday in the Piazza San Marco. The square banner, which read 'IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX,' was quickly folded up and carried away by local cops, the Associated Press reported.
'It's absurd to treat this city like it's Disneyland,' said Grazia Satta, a retired teacher and social worker, per the Wall Street Journal. 'The message this wedding sends is that rich people can do whatever they want. We shouldn't kneel before wealth like this.'
By Monday, Bezos' security team was making last-minute changes to try to outsmart the activists, according to TMZ. Even the water-taxi companies are being 'kept in the dark,' the site said, and if the water taxis don't know what's going on, who really does?
Perhaps Bezos could tap that $212-billion bank account and enlist a Prime Delivery person to drop off himself and his bride discreetly at their reception? Though the human-size Amazon box could be a dead giveaway.
Yes, we know yachts don't 'park,' they drop anchor. But no matter what you call it, the biggest yachts can't drop anchor in all parts of Venice.
One wedding theory has held that Bezos and Sánchez will exchange their vows on his 417-foot yacht, the Koru, where he proposed to her two years ago after five years of dating. But reported plans to dock the yacht in a lagoon might have changed. Apparently the close-to-shore concept is starting to look like a safety hazard due to those threatened protests of the second-richest man in the world.
The Koru is far from the only big boat floating around town, mind you. Venice has nine 'yacht ports,' all of which have been booked for the wedding week. Apparently, TMZ reported, noncelebrity billionaire yacht owners are altering their Venice vacation plans to avoid the crush. That has to sting.
Fortunately, although the yacht situation is fluid and the airspace over Venice is closed, CNN reported that private helicopters are being given a pass, in case a head of state decides to chopper in. As one does.
One type of watercraft not involved in the festivities? Gondolas, or at least those piloted by people the WSJ talked to. 'We are too slow,' one gondolier lamented.
President Trump reportedly scored an invitation to the wedding. Unclear if a plus-one for Melania was included. However, the commander in chief is a wee bit busy handling world events these days — hard to tell if he will be able to get away, even for a gala event like this one. Aren't destination weddings the worst? So inconvenient.
That said, Ivanka Trump and hubby Jared Kushner reportedly got invited too, along with Jared's brother Joshua Kushner and model wife Karlie Kloss. So the first family might be represented after all. And who knows, POTUS could swing by. Does Marine One count as a 'private' helicopter?
Others on the guest list, per TMZ, include Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Bill Gates, singer Jewel, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Corey Gamble, Barbra Streisand, Eva Longoria, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom, Brian Grazer, Barry Diller, Diane von Furstenberg, models Brooks Nader and Camila Morrone, and Queen Rania of Jordan. Perry won't attend, though, because she's on tour.