Billionaire's Venice Wedding Madness Reaches Final Stage

A final party capped off the wedding extravaganza thrown by billionaire Jeff Bezos for his marriage to Lauren Sanchez in Venice. The party took place Saturday night at the Arsenale, a former medieval shipyard in the eastern Italian city.

Newlyweds Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez left their luxury hotel on Venice's Grand Canal on Saturday for one last night of partying, capping off a star-studded three-day wedding extravaganza.

According to The Guardian, Bezos, 61, and Sanchez, 55, exchanged rings on Friday evening on the small island of San Giorgio, located across the sea from St. Mark's Square, to the singing of Matteo Bocelli, the son of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Among those in attendance were Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady, Queen Rania of Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

The Saturday night ball, which was expected to attract an estimated 200-250 guests and cost an estimated $50 million, was to be held at the Arsenal, a former medieval shipyard in east Lagoon City.

On Saturday, about 1,000 people demonstrated against the event - a group of activists and locals who objected to the wedding and to Venice being "gift-wrapped" for the super-rich.

Some guests were spotted leaving the Gritti Palace hotel in central Venice in their pyjamas, sometimes under brightly coloured robes, before boarding small boats to reach the party venue.

Bezos and Sanchez kept things more subdued, The Guardian reports. The "young man" wore a black shirt and suit, while the bride wore a soft pink off-the-shoulder dress. They kissed on the yacht, greeting those around them.

For the ceremony, the bride wore a turtleneck gown with a tulle and lace veil by Dolce & Gabbana, which she told Vogue magazine was inspired by the dress Sophia Loren wore when she married Cary Grant in the 1958 film Houseboat.

Sanchez also wore a pair of diamond earrings from Dolce & Gabbana, which, according to Vogue, were loaned to her in keeping with the tradition that it brings good luck for a bride to wear something that is not hers.

Jeff Bezos, ranked fourth on Forbes' list of the world's billionaires, wore a black tuxedo and bow tie over a white shirt.

Friday's ceremony had no legal status under Italian law, a senior city hall official told Reuters, suggesting the couple may have previously been legally married in the United States to avoid the red tape associated with an Italian marriage.

While some residents and activists denounced Bezos's revelry as a symbol of inequality and arrogance, Venice businessmen and political leaders welcomed the lavish wedding, calling it a major boost to the local economy.

"Those who protest are going against the history of Venice, which is a history of relationships, contacts and business," Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told Reuters.

"Bezos embodies the Venetian mentality. He is more Venetian than the protesters," the center-right mayor said, adding that he hoped Bezos, who has donated 3 million euros to local institutions, would return to the city to do business.

Brugnaro said Bezos did not put any conditions on holding his wedding celebrations in Venice, and the mayor's office only learned of his donations after they were made.

As The Guardian recalls, Jeff Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, became engaged to Sanchez in 2023, four years after the breakup of his 25-year marriage to writer and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.