By DAVID BILLER and PAOLO SANTALUCIA, Related Press
VENICE, Italy (AP) — The sky itself isn’t any restrict for billionaire Jeff Bezos and fiancée Lauren Sánchez, who’ve traveled into area — and expectations are nearly as excessive for his or her wedding ceremony in Venice.
Past that, the workforce of the world’s fourth-richest man has saved particulars beneath wraps. Nonetheless, whispers level to occasions unfold throughout the Italian lagoon metropolis, including complexity to what would have been a large logistical enterprise even on dry land.
Dozens of personal jets touched down at Venice’s airport, and yachts pulled into town’s famed waterways. Aboard have been athletes, celebrities, influencers and enterprise leaders, converging to enjoy extravagance that’s as a lot a testomony to the couple’s love as to their extraordinary wealth.
The heady hoopla recalled the 2014 wedding ceremony in Venice of actor George Clooney to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, when adoring crowds lined the canals and a whole lot of well-wishers gathered exterior Metropolis Corridor.
Not so for these nuptials, which have develop into a lightning rod for protests.
Nonetheless, any want to dampen the prevailing fever pitch has but to materialize. As a substitute, the glitterati have been set to social gathering, and the paparazzi jostling for glimpses of the gilded gala.
No matter occurs, it is going to be a marriage for the ages.
Kim Kardashian, heart, and sister Khloé Kardashian, arrive in Venice, Italy, Thursday, June 26, 2025, forward of Jeff Bezos’ wedding ceremony. (AP Photograph/Luigi Costantini)
Lauren Sanchez, proper, leaves a resort forward of the anticipated wedding ceremony celebrations with Jeff Bezos, in Venice, Italy, Friday, June 27, 2025. (AP Photograph/Antonio Calanni)
Boats cruise alongside the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, forward of festivities within the lagoon metropolis reportedly linked to a marriage celebration for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. (AP Photograph/Luca Bruno)
Oprah Winfrey, heart proper, arrives in Venice, Italy, Thursday, June 26, 2025, forward of Jeff Bezos’ wedding ceremony. (AP Photograph/Luigi Costantini)
Safety workers stand on a dock of San Giorgio Island in Venice, Italy, Friday,June 27, 2025 forward of the anticipated wedding ceremony celebrations of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. (AP Photograph/Antonio Calanni)
US actuality TV personalities Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner board a taxi boat at Venice Marco Polo airport forward of Jeff Bezos’ wedding ceremony on June 26, 2025. Celebrities in superyachts sail into Venice this week for the three-day wedding ceremony social gathering of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, regardless of irate locals who say the UNESCO metropolis isn’t any billionaire’s playground. The tech magnate and journalist have reportedly invited about 200 visitors to their multi-million greenback nuptials within the Italian metropolis, that are anticipated to kick off on June 26 and finish Saturday with a ceremony at a secret location. (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP) (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO/AFP through Getty Photos)
US socialite Khloe Kardashian boards a taxi boat at Venice Marco Polo airport forward of Jeff Bezos’ wedding ceremony on June 26, 2025. Celebrities in superyachts sail into Venice this week for the three-day wedding ceremony social gathering of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, regardless of irate locals who say the UNESCO metropolis isn’t any billionaire’s playground. The tech magnate and journalist have reportedly invited about 200 visitors to their multi-million greenback nuptials within the Italian metropolis, that are anticipated to kick off on June 26 and finish Saturday with a ceremony at a secret location. (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP) (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO/AFP through Getty Photos)
Jordan’s Queen Rania boards a taxi boat after touchdown at Venice Marco Polo airport forward of Jeff Bezos’ wedding ceremony on June 26, 2025. Celebrities in superyachts sail into Venice this week for the three-day wedding ceremony social gathering of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, regardless of irate locals who say the UNESCO metropolis isn’t any billionaire’s playground. The tech magnate and journalist have reportedly invited about 200 visitors to their multi-million greenback nuptials within the Italian metropolis, that are anticipated to kick off on June 26 and finish Saturday with a ceremony at a secret location. (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP) (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO/AFP through Getty Photos)
Jordan’s Princess Rajwa (L), Crown Prince of Jordan, Hussein bin Abdullah and their daughter Iman Bint Hussein board a taxi boat after touchdown at Venice Marco Polo airport forward of Jeff Bezos’ wedding ceremony on June 26, 2025. Celebrities in superyachts sail into Venice this week for the three-day wedding ceremony social gathering of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, regardless of irate locals who say the UNESCO metropolis isn’t any billionaire’s playground. The tech magnate and journalist have reportedly invited about 200 visitors to their multi-million greenback nuptials within the Italian metropolis, that are anticipated to kick off on June 26 and finish Saturday with a ceremony at a secret location. (Photograph by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photograph by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP through Getty Photos)
British actor Orlando Bloom and visitor get on a taxi boat on the Gritti Palace Lodge forward of the marriage of Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos with Lauren Sanchez in Venice on June 26, 2026. Celebrities in superyachts sail into Venice this week for the three-day wedding ceremony social gathering of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, regardless of irate locals who say the UNESCO metropolis isn’t any billionaire’s playground. The tech magnate and journalist have reportedly invited about 200 visitors to their multi-million greenback nuptials within the Italian metropolis, that are anticipated to kick off on June 26 and finish Saturday with a ceremony at a secret location. (Photograph by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) (Photograph by MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP through Getty Photos)
TOPSHOT – Lauren Sanchez and US founding father of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, go away the Aman Lodge in Venice on June 25, 2026. Celebrities in superyachts sail into Venice this week for the three-day wedding ceremony social gathering of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, regardless of irate locals who say the UNESCO metropolis isn’t any billionaire’s playground. The tech magnate and journalist have reportedly invited about 200 visitors to their multi-million greenback nuptials within the Italian metropolis, that are anticipated to kick off on June 26 and finish Saturday with a ceremony at a secret location. (Photograph by Stefano Rellandini / AFP) (Photograph by STEFANO RELLANDINI/AFP through Getty Photos)
A banner displaying a large crimson ‘X’ on Jeff Bezos’ identify is faraway from the bell tower of San Giorgio Maggiore, a small island a part of Venice the place the billionaire will marry is fiancee, journalist Lauren Sanchez on the finish of June, on June 12, 2025. Poster campaigns and stickers have unfold all through town, together with one with pictures of Bezos studying “No area for Bezos” as some native residents protest claiming town is reworked right into a playground for billionaires. (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP) (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO/AFP through Getty Photos)
A graffiti studying “No Area for Bezos” is pictured in a bar of Venice the place the billionaire Jeff Bezos will marry is fiancee, journalist Lauren Sanchez on the finish of the month, on June 13, 2025. Poster campaigns and stickers have unfold all through town, together with one with pictures of Bezos studying “No area for Bezos” as some native residents protest claiming town is reworked right into a playground for billionaires. (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP) (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO/AFP through Getty Photos)
A sticker studying “No Area for Bezos” is pictured in Venice the place the billionaire Jeff Bezos will marry is fiancee, journalist Lauren Sanchez on the finish of the month, on June 13, 2025. Poster campaigns and stickers have unfold all through town, together with one with pictures of Bezos studying “No area for Bezos” as some native residents protest claiming town is reworked right into a playground for billionaires. (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP) (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO/AFP through Getty Photos)
Individuals collect to protest in opposition to the marriage of Amazon Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez in Venice, on June 13, 2025. Poster campaigns and stickers have unfold all through town, together with one with pictures of Bezos studying “No area for Bezos” as some native residents protest claiming town is reworked right into a playground for billionaires. (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP) (Photograph by ANDREA PATTARO/AFP through Getty Photos)
This image taken on June 24, 2025 exhibits a poster calling for a protest in opposition to Bezos’ wedding ceremony pasted on a mail field in Venice, northern Italy. Celebrities in superyachts sail into Venice this week for the three-day wedding ceremony social gathering of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, regardless of irate locals who say the UNESCO metropolis isn’t any billionaire’s playground. The tech magnate and journalist have reportedly invited about 200 visitors to their multi-million greenback nuptials within the Italian metropolis, that are anticipated to kick off on June 26 and finish Saturday with a ceremony at a secret location. (Photograph by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP) (Photograph by STEFANO RELLANDINI/AFP through Getty Photos)
Vacationers snap images of the Rialto bridge alongside the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, forward of festivities within the lagoon metropolis reportedly linked to a marriage celebration for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. (AP Photograph/Luca Bruno)
A gondola carries vacationers in entrance of the Aman Lodge alongside the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, June 26, 2025, forward of festivities within the lagoon metropolis reportedly linked to a marriage celebration for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. (AP Photograph/Luca Bruno)
This picture launched by Greenpeace exhibits a big banner in opposition to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ deliberate wedding ceremony, in St. Mark Sq., in Venice, Italy Monday, June 23, 2025. (Greenpeace through AP)
A vacationer takes {a photograph} along with her smartphone in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, forward of festivities within the lagoon metropolis reportedly linked to a marriage celebration for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. (AP Photograph/Luca Bruno)
A model resembling Jeff Bezos floats in a canal in Venice, Italy, on Tuesday, June 24, 2025, forward of festivities within the lagoon metropolis reportedly linked to a marriage celebration for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. (Click on Information through AP)
A lookalike of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos poses for images in Venice, Italy, Thursday, June 26, 2025, forward of festivities within the lagoon metropolis reportedly linked to a marriage celebration for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. (AP Photograph/Luca Bruno)
Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, heart, arrives for the weekend wedding ceremony of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, in Venice, Italy, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photograph/Luca Bruno)
Oprah Winfrey arrives for the weekend wedding ceremony of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, in Venice, Italy, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photograph/Luca Bruno)
Italian Military troopers patrol St. Mark’s Sq. forward of the weekend wedding ceremony of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, in Venice, Italy, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (AP Photograph/Luca Bruno)
An activist from Extinction Rise up unfolds a banner in entrance of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice, Italy, on Thursday, June 26, 2025, forward of festivities within the lagoon metropolis reportedly linked to a marriage celebration for Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez. (AP Photograph/Luigi Costantini)
Amazon multi-billionaire founder Jeff Bezos, proper, and Lauren Sanchez go away a resort in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, forward of festivities within the lagoon metropolis reportedly linked to their wedding ceremony. (AP Photograph/Luigi Costantini)
Amazon multi-billionaire founder Jeff Bezos, proper, and Lauren Sanchez arrive by boat at a resort in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, June 25, 2025, forward of festivities within the lagoon metropolis reportedly linked to their wedding ceremony. (AP Photograph/Luca Bruno)
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Kim Kardashian, heart, and sister Khloé Kardashian, arrive in Venice, Italy, Thursday, June 26, 2025, forward of Jeff Bezos’ wedding ceremony. (AP Photograph/Luigi Costantini)
Venice is famed for its community of canals, the place gondoliers croon for lovestruck {couples} and even ambulances are aquatic. However water transport of the whole lot from bouquets to visitors makes Venice among the many world’s most difficult cities for a celebration, in keeping with Jack Ezon, CEO of luxurious journey advisory and occasion planner Embark Past.
“It’s a really tight-knit neighborhood; everybody there is aware of everybody, and it is advisable work with the suitable folks,” stated Ezon, whose firm has placed on a dozen high-end occasions in Venice. “There’s very tight management, particularly on motion there with boats.”
It at the least triples the associated fee versus staging the identical soiree in Rome or Florence, he stated.
Veneto Gov. Luca Zaia was first to present an estimated tally for the Bezos/Sánchez bash: He advised reporters this week the latest whole he noticed was between 40 million and 48 million euros (as much as $56 million).
It’s an eye-popping, jaw-dropping determine that’s over 1,000 occasions the $36,000 common price of American {couples}’ weddings in 2025, in keeping with wedding ceremony planning web site Zola’s annual report.
Bezos’ workforce has been tight-lipped about the place these thousands and thousands are going. When the youngest son of Asia’s richest man married final July, performances by pop stars Rihanna and Justin Bieber pushed up the value tag.
“How do you spend $40 million on a three- or four-day occasion?” Ezon stated. ”You may deliver headliners, A-list performers, nice DJs from wherever on the earth. You may spend $2 million on an unbelievable glass tent that’s solely there for 10 hours, but it surely takes a month to construct,” or broaden the celebration to native landmarks.
There’s no signal Sánchez and Bezos, the previous CEO of Amazon, intend to take over any of Venice’s tourist-thronged hotspots. Nonetheless, intense hand-wringing in regards to the prospect prompted their wedding ceremony coordinator, Lanza & Baucina, to subject a uncommon assertion calling these rumors false.
On Thursday, a string of water taxis reduce by way of the lagoon to deliver Bezos, Sánchez and visitors to the Madonna dell’Orto cloister as some onlookers cheered. Paparazzi adopted in their very own boats, attempting to seize visitors on digital camera — Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian, Ivanka Trump, Tom Brady, Orlando Bloom — as police on jet skis patrolled.
On Friday afternoon, Sánchez emerged from her resort carrying a silk scarf on her head and blew a kiss to journalists earlier than moving into her water taxi. It carried her by way of the canals to San Giorgio island, throughout the lagoon basin from St. Mark’s Sq., the place the couple is predicted to carry a ceremony later within the day. Related Press journalists circling the island earlier noticed non-public safety personnel stationed at each touchdown level, together with its newly put in dock.
Native media have additionally reported a reception Saturday within the Arsenale, a former navy base finest often known as a major venue for the Venice Biennale.
‘No Area’
There are some who say these two shouldn’t be wed on this metropolis.
They characterize the marriage as a decadent show of wealth in a world with rising inequality, and argue it’s a shining instance of tourism taking priority over residents’ wants, significantly inexpensive housing and important companies. Venice can also be one of many cities most weak to rising sea ranges from local weather change.
“Venice isn’t just a reasonably image, a reasonably postcard to please the wants and desires of the elite or of mass vacationers, however it’s an alive metropolis, made of people that wish to truly reside there,” Stella Faye, a college researcher from Venice, stated on Friday.
A couple of dozen Venetian organizations — together with housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and college teams — are protesting beneath the banner “No Area for Bezos,” a play on phrases referring to his area exploration firm Blue Origin and the bride’s current area flight.
Greenpeace unfurled a banner in St. Mark’s Sq. denouncing Bezos for paying inadequate taxes. Activists floated a bald-headed Bezos-inspired model down Venice’s Grand Canal atop an Amazon supply field, its arms clenching pretend money.
Authorities — from Venice’s mayor to the nation’s tourism minister — have dismissed the outcry, saying it ignores the visibility and financial enhance the marriage brings.
“There can be images in every single place, social media will go wild over the bride’s gown, over the ceremony,” Italy’s tourism minister, Daniela Santanchè, advised the AP.
“All of this interprets into a large free publicity marketing campaign. In actual fact, as a result of they’ll spend some huge cash, they’ll enrich Venice — our shopkeepers, artisans, restauranteurs, resorts. So it’s an awesome alternative each for spending and for selling Italy on the earth.”
Philanthropy
As Amazon’s CEO, Bezos often averted the limelight, ceaselessly delegating bulletins and enterprise updates to his executives. At this time he has a internet value of $231 billion, in keeping with Forbes.
In 2019, he introduced he was divorcing his first spouse, MacKenzie Scott, simply earlier than the Nationwide Enquirer revealed a narrative about an affair with Sánchez, a former TV information anchor. Sánchez filed for divorce the day after Bezos’ divorce was finalized.
He stepped down as CEO in 2021, saying he wished to spend extra time on aspect initiatives, together with Blue Origin, The Washington Publish, which he owns, and his philanthropic initiatives.
Sitting beside Sánchez throughout an interview with CNN in 2022, he introduced plans to give away nearly all of his wealth throughout his lifetime.
Final week, a Venetian environmental analysis affiliation issued an announcement saying Bezos’ Earth Fund was supporting its work with an “essential donation.” CORILA, which seeks safety of the Venetian lagoon system, stated contact started in April, effectively earlier than any protests.
Biller reported from Rome. AP reporter Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report.
