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Jeff Bezos-Lauren Sanchez's wedding of the century: 90 jets, 30 water taxis and more
Second party wedding party of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez is slated for Friday on the small island of San Giorgio.
Ahead of their wedding, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his journalist fiancee Lauren Sanchez arrived in Venice on Wednesday, to take part in three days of lavish VIP parties in the romantic lagoon city, despite protests from locals.
The widely dubbed “wedding of the century” will have an estimated cost of 40-48 million euros ($46-$56 million). It will feature around 90 private jets set to land this week, bringing A-listers from show-business, politics and finance.
A Reuters reporter spotted the couple entering the exclusive Aman Venice Hotel on the Grand Canal, where many of the celebrities will stay. According to sources, the wedding festivities will kick off on Thursday night with an open-air gathering in the cloisters of Madonna dell'Orto, a medieval church in the central area of Cannaregio. To isolate the wedding guests from the protestors, Venice City Hall issued a directive on Wednesday cordoning off the area. Activists have been protesting for weeks against the wedding citing that the celebrations will turn the city into a private amusement park for the rich. "There's only one thing that rules now: money, money, money, so we are the losers," said Venice resident Nadia Rigo.
Amid the criticisms, Bezos made a donation of 3 million euros to three local institutions, including CORILA, UNESCO's local office, and the Venice International University.
While the date and venue of the wedding still remains under wraps, some have speculated that Bezos and Sanchez may already have tied the knot in a private ceremony back in the United States.
Meanwhile, the second party is slated for Friday according to sources on the small island of San Giorgio, in front of the famed St. Mark's Square with its 99-metre-high (108 yard) bell tower. Most of the 250 guests will arrive till the second party.
Also read: Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez wedding: Who’s on the guest list, including a Trump
Safe location for wedding
Arrangements have been made outside the Aman Venice Hotel to protect the guests from photographers and prying eyes. Celebrations will end on Saturday with the main wedding bash to be held at one of the halls of the Arsenale.
The location was changed previously with Arsenale being safer, as it is unreachable by land when connecting bridges are raised. Bezos, executive chair of e-commerce giant Amazon and no. 4 on Forbes' billionaires list, got engaged to Sanchez in 2023, four years after the collapse of his 25-year marriage to Mackenzie Scott. The couple's decision to marry in Venice follows other celebrity weddings in the floating city, such as that of U.S. actor George Clooney and human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014.
(With Reuters Inputs)
