Today, on the secluded Island of San Giorgio Maggiore, Jeff Bezos (61) and Lauren Sánchez (55) exchange vows in a black-tie ceremony officiated under Renaissance frescoes. The location, shifted last-minute from Scuola Vecchia della Misericordia due to protests, anchors a reported $48 million event spanning six days.
Venetian activists draped banners reading “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax” near event sites, criticizing the billionaires’ environmental impact and the strain of overtourism.
The Power Planners: Aristocratic “Door Openers”
London-based Lanza & Baucina Limited – founded by Italian princes and counts—steered the wedding, leveraging family ties to secure exclusive venues like Fondazione Cini monastery and privately hired palazzos. The firm, known for George Clooney’s 2014 Venice wedding, emphasized minimizing disruption: “We employed locals overwhelmingly and respected institutions”. Their fee? Up to $75,000 for elite access.
Three Days of Lavish Festivities
Foam Party Kickoff: Bezos’ $500M superyacht Koru hosted a raucous pre-wedding foam party off Croatia’s coast.
Schiaparelli & Suits: Sánchez stunned in gold baroque-embroidered Schiaparelli at Thursday’s welcome party, while Bezos opted for relaxed suits. Guests like Kim Kardashian (snakeskin dress) and Oprah (cutout gown) arrived via 30 coordinated water taxis.
Pizza & Philanthropy: A Neapolitan chef cooked onsite pizza for A-listers. Instead of gifts, donations went to UNESCO Venice and lagoon restoration—a nod to critics.
Guest List: Polarizing Royals and Exes
Roughly 200 guests descended on Venice, including:
Tech/Media Elite: Oprah, Gayle King, Barry Diller, Diane von Fürstenberg
Political Fireworks: Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner
Hollywood Factions: Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, and the Kardashian-Jenner clan (Kris, Kim, Khloé, Kendall, Kylie).
Controversies & Secrets
Prenup Delays: The Aspen wedding was postponed in 2024 over unfinished legal safeguards for Bezos’ $233B fortune.
“Invitation Gate”: Leaked invites featured clip-art-esque gondolas and butterflies, dubbed “Microsoft Word core” by critics.
Stealth Logistics: Multiple venues were booked to outmaneuver protesters. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro assured “no abnormal disruption” despite 400 gondolas on standby.
Why Venice? A Sinking Symbol
Bezos and Sánchez’s choice of Venice—a city battling sea-level rise—contrasts sharply with their space ventures. While planners sourced 80% of provisions locally (Murano glass gifts, Rosa Salva pastries), activists decried the event as “Venice behaving as a prostitute”.
The Takeaway: Billionaire PR in Action
This wedding merges extreme wealth with damage control: charitable donations, local hiring, and aristocratic discretion. Yet as protesters chant “No space for Bezos,” the spectacle highlights a global debate on inequality, played out on Venice’s fragile canals.
