Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s Lavish Venice Wedding Draws Celebrities, Designers—and Protesters

Venice, Italy — A glittering parade of celebrities has descended on Venice this week for the highly anticipated wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and media personality Lauren Sánchez. As water taxis glide past centuries-old cathedrals and paparazzi stake out hotel entrances, the power couple’s nuptials have turned the historic city into a whirlwind of glamour, secrecy, and growing scrutiny.

The multi-day celebration, orchestrated by elite wedding planners Lanza and Baucina—who famously coordinated George and Amal Clooney’s 2014 Venetian wedding—officially kicked off Thursday evening with a private event at the 14th-century Madonna dell’Orto cloister. The venue, home to numerous masterpieces by the Venetian painter Tintoretto, was shut off to the public following a city traffic ordinance that restricted pedestrian access from late afternoon until midnight, fueling speculation about the couple’s high-profile guest list.

Among those spotted arriving in Venice throughout the week were Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, joined by their children, as well as Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, and matriarch Kris Jenner. The trio was later seen socializing with actor Orlando Bloom. Other arrivals included media titan Oprah Winfrey, NFL legend Tom Brady, tech billionaire Bill Gates, and fashion icons Kendall and Kylie Jenner.

Thursday afternoon offered a preview of the extravagant fashion to come, with Kim Kardashian turning heads in a body-hugging snakeskin ensemble, and Ivanka Trump radiating elegance in an Oscar de la Renta cherry blossom cocktail dress. Usher, Leonardo DiCaprio, and other boldface names were also spotted in and around the Gritti Palace Hotel, adding to the spectacle.

But beneath the shimmer, controversy simmers. Protest group No Space for Bezos has challenged the event’s presence in the heart of the lagoon city, citing environmental and social concerns. Their planned canal blockades reportedly prompted organizers to shift one of the wedding’s major events from a central Venetian venue to a more remote former shipyard.

Though Bezos and Sánchez have remained tight-lipped about specific details, their wedding team appears determined to quell local resentment. According to planners, about 80% of all wedding-related goods and services are being sourced from Venetian vendors. That includes custom Murano glass gifts from designer Laguna B and pastries from the city’s oldest bakery, Rosa Salva. Roughly 30 of Venice’s 280 elite water taxis have been reserved for the event, and gondolas are reportedly on standby, with coordination from the city’s gondola association.

The logistics reflect an attempt to strike a balance between opulence and local engagement, even as questions linger over the scale of the spectacle. “Our clients have been very clear: they want to celebrate without disrupting the city,” the planners told CNN, noting that lavish doesn’t have to mean invasive.

Still, Venice’s reputation as a luxury wedding destination has long been a double-edged sword. While past events—such as the nuptials of François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek in 2009, and LVMH heir Alexandre Arnault in 2021—have brought global attention and revenue, they’ve also inflamed tensions around gentrification, tourism, and the city’s fragile infrastructure.

And for fashion watchers, one of the most closely guarded secrets remains Sánchez’s wedding dress. All signs point to Dolce & Gabbana as the front-runner, with designer Domenico Dolce himself spotted lounging at Venice’s exclusive Riva Lounge on Thursday. The label has long had a relationship with Sánchez; she wore a sheer Dolce & Gabbana gown to Bezos’s 60th birthday celebration earlier this year and attended their Alta Sartoria show in Sardinia last summer, where her son Nikko Gonzalez walked the runway.

Yet Oscar de la Renta remains a strong contender, especially given Sánchez’s previous appearances in the designer’s gowns at the 2024 Met Gala and the Vanity Fair Oscar Party.

With a fluid schedule designed to outmaneuver potential protests and preserve a degree of privacy, the wedding promises a weekend of spectacle and symbolism—one where luxury, legacy, and local sensitivity collide. Venice, no stranger to drama or romance, once again finds itself center stage.

Whether remembered for its Hollywood sparkle or civic complications, the Bezos-Sánchez wedding is already shaping up to be one of the year’s most talked-about cultural events. As gondolas glide past candlelit palazzos and flashbulbs light up the Grand Canal, Venice plays host not just to a union, but to a moment—one that’s as much about visibility as vows.