{"id":19983,"date":"2025-06-27T20:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T20:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/19983\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T20:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T20:35:09","slug":"jeff-bezos-and-lauren-sanchez-marry-in-venice-wedding-amid-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/19983\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos and Lauren S\u00e1nchez Marry in Venice Wedding Amid Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJeff Bezos<\/a> and Lauren S\u00e1nchez are officially married.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Amazon<\/a> billionaire and former TV anchor tied the knot Friday in a lavish celebration in Venice, Italy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe three-day, $10 million extravaganza<\/a> reportedly took over the whole island of San Giorgio Maggiore, opposite Venice\u2019s historic St. Mark\u2019s Square, with a guest list that boasted Oprah, Bill Gates, Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Karlie Kloss, Ivanka Trump, Orlando Bloom, Jewel, Leonardo DiCaprio, Barry Diller and Diane von Furstenberg.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe couple hosted A-list attendees in heavily booked hotels across the city, including at the Aman,\u00a0where George and Amal Clooney tied the knot in 2014;\u00a0Gritti Palace; The St. Regis; Hotel Danieli; and Belmond Cipriani. Vogue boss Anna Wintour reportedly helped S\u00e1nchez select her dress for the ceremony, and word spread that Elton John was asked to perform.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s hard to expect any less from Bezos, one of the world\u2019s richest men (valued at $233 billion), whose wedding planners have commandeered many of the city\u2019s resources. But a portion of Venice natives were not so welcoming. Blocked streets and boat reroutes prompted a group of them to make their feelings known.<\/p>\n

\n\tBanners reading, \u201cIf you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax,\u201d and, \u201cNo Space for Bezos\u201d \u2014\u00a0referencing the American businessman\u2019s cosmic aspirations with his space-travel firm Blue Origin<\/a> \u2014\u00a0were displayed in Venice ahead of the nuptials. Meanwhile, other protesters threatened to fill the canals with inflatables, dinghies and boats to obstruct Bezos\u2019 water taxis. Graffiti and stickers plastered on walls remarked: \u201cVeniceland: A playground fit for an oligarch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tGreenpeace Italy and U.K.-based\u00a0group\u00a0Everyone Hates Elon, which The Hollywood Reporter recently spoke to about their billionaire-bashing efforts<\/a>, joined in by unveiling the aforementioned tax-angled message on a 400-square-meter banner in the middle of St. Mark\u2019s Square on Monday. It was swiftly removed by police. According to a 2021 ProPublica report<\/a> based on IRS data, in 2007 and again in 2011, Bezos managed to pay\u00a0nothing in federal income tax, and his tax rate from 2014 to 2018 was estimated to be just 0.98 percent.<\/p>\n

\n\tChief among the concerns are Venice\u2019s already-overcrowded streets, worsened by the constant influx of tourists, and climate change contributing to a sinking city. \u201cBezos\u2019 wedding is a symbol of extreme wealth, privilege and a lot of things that are going wrong currently in the world,\u201d said Greenpeace campaigner Clara Thompson, who added that the wedding took place in \u201cone of the world\u2019s most climate-vulnerable cities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong Amazon\u2019s biggest critics are climate activists who denounce the company\u2019s carbon emissions, packaging waste and reported destruction of unsold goods.<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tThe pop-up protests seemed to have worked: The BBC reported<\/a> on Tuesday that a local official confirmed that the wedding celebrations, set to take place at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, would take place instead at the Arsenale, farther from the city center.<\/p>\n

\n\tStill, the now-married couple\u00a0reportedly quietly donated to Venetian charities in April and sourced 80 percent of their wedding provisions from local vendors.<\/p>\n

\n\tOn Monday, Luca Zaia, president of the surrounding Veneto region, announced a 1 million euro ($1.16 million) donation by Bezos and S\u00e1nchez to the Corila Consortium, an international<\/a> scientific research group doing work on the Venice lagoon, according to CNN<\/a>. \u201cThe generous donation by Jeff Bezos and Lauren S\u00e1nchez represents an act of great sensitivity and foresight,\u201d Zaia said. \u201cVenice is not only a symbolic city of Veneto and Italy, it is a heritage of humanity that demands attention, respect and care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tConservative Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who has run Venice for 10 years, condemned the protests. \u201cWhoever loves Venice will always be welcome,\u201d he said, while other city officials promised \u201cthe celebrations, attended by 250 guests, will blend into the daily rhythm of the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBezos\u2019 wedding planners from the London-based Lanza & Baucina events company said in a statement to Page Six<\/a> that they had been actively working to avoid negative effects on the city. \u201cWe have always acknowledged the wider debate and critical issues surrounding the city\u2019s 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,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff Bezos and Lauren S\u00e1nchez are officially married. The Amazon billionaire and former TV anchor tied the knot…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":19984,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2431,888,64,1801,2219,4061,4062,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-19983","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-amazon","9":"tag-blue-origin","10":"tag-business","11":"tag-international","12":"tag-italy","13":"tag-jeff-bezos","14":"tag-lauren-sanchez","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114757247558950064","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}