Everything we know about Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's opulent Venice wedding as protests continue
The society wedding of the summer is rapidly approaching.
Festivities for Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former TV reporter Lauren Sánchez are getting underway with a rumored guest list of 200 celebrities and personalities flocking to Venice to join.
Bezos, 61, and Sánchez, 55, announced their engagement in 2023. The former proposed with a 20-carat, $2.5 million pink diamond ring aboard his $500 million luxury superyacht, Koru, which is rumored to play a large role in the wedding.
However, they've not been met with open arms by Venice locals, who continue to protest the upcoming nuptials amid the swell of overtourism in the city.
Here, we round up everything we know (so far) about the Bezos-Sánchez wedding.
Initially reported as taking place June 24-26, the wedding festivities appear to actually be later in the week. However, Venice officials have declined to confirm dates publicly, acknowledging only that the wedding is taking place in late June.
However, a source in Italy told the Daily Mail that the official wedding ceremony will take place Friday, June 27, on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore, with Bezos's Koru docked in the harbor, as part of a three-day extravaganza. The island is owned by the Cini Foundation and will not be open to the public, according to the source.
The day before will reportedly be a gala, and the day after the ceremony will involve another grand party at a palazzo or church, according to the source.
Additional unconfirmed reports from local Italian publications indicated that Venice's Lido beach and the restored Scuola Grande della Misericordia building may all host festivities throughout the week.
Bezos's superyacht, on which he and Sánchez were seen in Croatia over the weekend, is also rumored to play a large role in the nuptials. A spokesperson for Venice's mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, told CNN in March that the wedding would be taking place on the superyacht, though that hasn't been otherwise confirmed.
The New York Times reported that nine other yachts associated with the wedding will be docked in Venice during the week, per a local yachting operator's representative, indicating that some of the high-profile attendees might be arriving by boat.
While the guest list also remains closely guarded, several well-known figures have already been seen making their way to Venice, including Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner.
This week, TMZ reported that Orlando Bloom will be attending sans wife Katy Perry, who is currently on tour in Australia. The singer famously joined Sánchez on their heavily-derided all-female space mission onboard Bezos's Blue Origin rocket.
Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady is also rumored to attend, per TMZ, along with fellow footballer and Sánchez's ex-boyfriend, Tony Gonzalez, with whom she shares one child.
Oprah Winfrey, Mick Jagger, Jay-Z & Beyoncé, Eva Longoria, Gayle King, Diane von Furstenberg, and Jewel are just a handful of the other rumored celebrities expected to attend. Karlie Kloss and husband Joshua Kushner are also rumored to have made the cut.
If Sánchez's star-studded bachelorette bash is any indication, Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner will likely appear as well.
Of course, the A-listers are in addition to family and friends, including the seven children between Bezos and Sánchez from their previous relationships. Bezos shares son Preston, 25, two other sons, and a daughter with ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, while Sánchez has son Nikko Gonzalez, 24, with ex-boyfriend Tony Gonzales; and Evan Whitesell, 19, and Ella Whitesell, 17, with ex-husband Patrick Whitesell.
Bezos and Sánchez are sourcing about 80% of provisions needed for the wedding from local Venetian vendors and organizations, according to The Associated Press.
Among the vendors is Venice's oldest pastry maker, Rosa Salva, and glassware firm Laguna B.
The wedding order included a bussola buttery biscuit and small zaletti cookies, flavored with raisins and lemon zest and made from the region's corn meal, which will be used for surprise goody bags, the AP reported.
'I don't see how an event with 200 people can create disruptions. It's responsible tourism,' Salva told the outlet. "It's prestigious that a couple like this, who can go anywhere in the world, are getting married in the city.'
Marcantonio Brandolini, the CEO of Laguna B., told the AP that details of what the company is producing for the wedding were a secret. However, he did reveal that his upstairs neighbors are von Furstenberg and her husband, Barry Diller, both close friends of Bezos and Sánchez.
The nuptials are rumored to cost between $10 and $20 million. That breaks down to about $50,000 per guest.
Guests, including Bezos and Sánchez, are rumored to be staying at the Aman Venice hotel, where George and Amal Clooney celebrated their wedding in 2014. The hotel remains unavailable to book online between June 25 and 29. Room rates begin at about $2,300 per night.
Ivanka Trump and her husband were seen arriving at the St. Regis Hotel, where rooms start at $1,975 per night this week. Interestingly, June 27 is unavailable to book online, which could be due to the wedding. Other reports indicate that the Gritti Palace, Belmond Cipriani, and Hotel Danieli are also being used either partially or fully for the wedding.
The multiple days of festivities, including meals and beverages — not to mention the cost of flying or yachting to Venice — are sure to add up quickly for the couple. Plus, ABC News reported Bezos and Sánchez are making donations to several charities on behalf of their guests after obtaining a copy of part of the wedding invite. Those organizations include the UNESCO Venice Office, CORILA, and Venice International University.
The invite also specifically asks guests to refrain from giving the couple gifts.
Of course, the pricey celebrations are unlikely to make a dent in Bezos's $231 billion net worth.
After word started to spread that the Bezos-Sánchez nuptials would take place in Venice, Brugnaro was forced to address the wedding in March. The mayor denied claims that he booked a large number of hotel rooms, gondolas, and water taxis for the event.
'We are mutually working and supporting the organizers to ensure that the event will be absolutely respectful of the fragility and uniqueness of the city,' he said in a statement to People magazine at the time.
'The many speculations and fake news circulating about Jeff Bezos' wedding are completely unfounded,' the municipality added in its own statement, saying its 'utmost priority to make sure the city functions as normal, for all, with no abnormal disruption to anyone.'
However, Venice local Marta Sottoriva believes it is a 'lie that this wedding is going to bring wealth and visibility to the city.' She told The Independent that allowing the billionaire to have his wedding in Venice creates the idea that 'a city can be sold to the highest bidder with the most money.'
Then, on Monday, Greenpeace joined the smattering of protests. A half-dozen protesters unfurled a giant banner early Monday in St. Mark's Square reading: 'IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX.'
Local police quickly folded it up and took it away.
Still, wedding planners from Lanza & Baucina Limited have addressed claims that Bezos and Sánchez are 'taking over Venice' after the protests against the couple.
'As event organizers who have been working in Venice for over 24 years, we feel obliged to set the record straight given the misinformation, untruths and misunderstandings circulating about the Bezos wedding,' Lanza & Baucina Limited said in a statement.
'From the outset, instructions from our client and our own guiding principles were abundantly clear: the minimizing of any disruption to the city, the respect for its residents and institutions and the overwhelming employment of locals in the crafting of the events.'
'Rumors of 'taking over' the city are entirely false and diametrically opposed to our goals and to reality,' the statement continued.
'The number of taxis reserved being proportionate for the number of guests. Before the recent news of protests arose, we had worked for there to be minimal negative impact or disruption to the lives of Venetians and the city's visitors,' the event organizer added.
The statement concluded: 'We have always acknowledged the wider debate and critical issues surrounding the city's future, and from the outset our client has been honored to support the city and its all-important lagoon through non-profit organizations and associated projects.'
The Independent will launch a live blog covering the wedding on Thursday.
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