Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former journalist Lauren Sanchez are set to tie the knot in Italy this week, whilst native frustrations mount over the multi-million greenback occasion.
This is what to know in regards to the three-day wedding ceremony celebration, in addition to the protests unfolding within the background.
The place and when is the marriage?
Bezos, 61, and Sanchez’s wedding ceremony extravaganza kicks off in Venice this Thursday, with the ceremony scheduled to happen Saturday at an undisclosed location.
The duo have been sighted earlier this week as they arrived by way of taxi-boat on the Aman Lodge, a five-star resort on the Grand Canal in Venice.
Picture by Ernesto Ruscio/GC Photographs
The nuptials will mark Bezos’ second marriage, after his first marriage to philanthropist Mackenzie Scott led to 2019. Sanchez, 55, was beforehand married to Patrick Whitesell, the chief chair of expertise agency Endeavor, with their marriage additionally ending in 2019.
The marriage ceremony is prone to be held on San Giorgio Maggiore, in accordance to CNN. One of many islands that make up Venice, San Giorgio Maggiore is understood for the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, designed by the architect Andrea Palladio within the 1500s.
ANDREA PATTARO/AFP by way of Getty Photographs 
A protest group referred to as “No House for Bezos” declared victory this week, saying that the couple has moved their deliberate post-wedding occasion on June 28 to a shipyard on the outskirts of Venice somewhat than the 14th-century Grande Scuola Misericordia in central Venice, CNN reported.
How a lot will the Bezos-Sanchez wedding ceremony value?
The three-day occasion may value between $64 million to $76 million, Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto regional authorities that contains Venice, advised reporters on Tuesday, in accordance to The Globe and Mail.
About 80% of the marriage provisions shall be sourced from Venetian distributors, the Related Press reported, citing individuals near the couple. These merchandise embrace domestically made pastries and hand-blown glass from Murano, an island recognized for its lengthy historical past of glassmaking.
Bezos has a internet price of $230 billion, based on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That ranks him No. 3 on the index’s listing of the world’s richest individuals, after Mark Zuckerberg ($246 billion) and Elon Musk ($385 billion)
Who’s attending?
Bezos and Sanchez invited some 200 company to have a good time with them within the Italian metropolis, based on media experiences.
The occasion is predicted to attract loads of star energy, with company together with Oprah Winfrey, Tom Brady, Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Mick Jagger, Katy Perry, and President Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, Jared Kushner, The Related Press reported. Italian media additionally coated the arrival of Microsoft founder Invoice Gates, Kim Kardashian and clothier Diane von Furstenberg.
MARCO BERTORELLO/AFP by way of Getty Photographs 
Picture by Ernesto Ruscio/GC Photographs 
In response to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, at the least 95 personal planes have requested permission to land at Venice’s Marco Polo airport.
Who’s Lauren Sanchez?
Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder and proprietor of The Washington Put up, is marrying Lauren Sanchez, a former journalist turned youngsters’s ebook creator. The couple went public with their relationship in 2019 and grew to become engaged in 2023.
Sanchez not too long ago participated in Blue Origin’s first all-women’s house flight, which included “CBS Mornings” anchor Gayle King and singer-songwriter Katy Perry. A licensed pilot, Sanchez pitched the thought for a female-led flight to Bezos, the founding father of Blue Origin, shortly after he accomplished his personal journey to house in 2021.
Ernesto S. Ruscio/GC Photographs 
Sanchez’s bachelorette occasion in Paris final month included Perry, Kardashian, Kris Jenner and Eva Longoria, based on AFP.
What are the marriage protests about?
Some Venice locals are expressing frustration over town’s resolution to welcome rich vacationers whereas failing to satisfy residents’ wants.
This comes amid a broader pushback in opposition to tourism in components of Europe. Final week, protesters gathered in Venice and different fashionable European locations to protest a flood of holiday makers, who some critics blame for driving up housing prices and pushing out native residents. For the second 12 months, Venice is requiring individuals visiting town for a day to pay a tax to enter on sure summer time dates.
Amongst these protesting the marriage are the organizers of the “No House for Bezos” marketing campaign, which has the backing of a dozen totally different native organizations together with housing advocates and college teams.
ANDREA PATTARO/AFP by way of Getty Photographs 
Greenpeace joined the combo on Monday, with a handful of activists unfurling an enormous banner in Venice’s St. Mark’s Sq. with a photograph of Bezos and textual content that learn: “IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX.” Native police folded up the banner and took it away.
Venetian officers have stood their floor, whilst criticism of the occasion escalated.
“We’ll at all times respect the correct to talk out, however we reject each type of intolerance and prejudice,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro stated in Thursday’s version of Italian newspaper Il Foglio Quotidiano. “Nobody in Venice can declare the correct of deciding who can enter, who can love, who can have a good time.”
In March, town issued an announcement denying experiences that there can be any main disruption to day by day Venetian life, even with a whole bunch anticipated to descend on town this week for the marriage.
Venice and the encompassing metropolitan space has a inhabitants of roughly 250,000, based on Statista. However fewer than 50,000 individuals reside within the metropolis’s historic district, which consists over 100 islands related by Venice’s well-known canals and footbridges.
and
contributed to this report.
