Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez celebrate their love in million-dollar Venice wedding

News24

7 hours ago

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez tied the knot in a three-day extravaganza in Venice, Italy.
Estimated to have cost between $20 million and more than $50 million, the main ceremony included a Dolce & Gabbana haute couture gown for Sanchez.
Despite the festivities, local residents launched a 'No Space for Bezos' campaign in protest against overcrowded tourism.
Billionaire businessman Jeff Bezos has officially wed his girlfriend, former journalist Lauren Sanchez, in a lavish three-day Venetian celebration that concluded Saturday evening, CNN reported. The festivities ended at the Arsenale, a historic medieval shipyard in Venice, Italy.
On Friday, the Amazon founder and Sanchez exchanged vows in a private ceremony on San Giorgio Maggiore, a picturesque and historic island in the San Marco district. According to CNN, the guest list of approximately 200 attendees included a star-studded lineup featuring members of the Kardashian-Jenner family, Bill Gates, Karlie Kloss, Oprah Winfrey, and Usher.
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Bezos proposed to Sanchez aboard their luxury yacht in May 2023, later hosting an engagement party in Beverly Hills that November.
During the Venetian wedding ceremony, reports indicated the pair likely exchanged rings symbolically. However, it remains unclear whether they were legally married before the event or elsewhere.
A spokesperson from the Venice mayor's office told CNN last Thursday that the city had not received any official marriage requests from the couple, suggesting the weekend's events were ceremonial rather than legally binding.
Sanchez stole the show in a custom lace Dolce & Gabbana haute couture gown, a work of art that reportedly required 900 hours of atelier craftsmanship. Speaking to photographers, she said she 'felt like a princess'.
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While the exact wedding costs remained undisclosed, estimates suggest the affair ranged from $20 million to an astounding $50 million or more. The lavish ceremony marked Bezos and Sanchez's second marriages.
The wedding was not without controversy.
As other high-profile guests such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Gayle King, Tom Brady, Diane von Fürstenberg, and Ivanka Trump arrived in Venice, local residents launched a 'No Space for Bezos' campaign.
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According to CBS News, the protest voiced frustrations over Europe's tourism surge, with residents blaming the influx of notable attendees for rising costs and rents.
Ahead of the wedding, the couple hosted a Thursday evening reception in Venice, setting the stage for their breathtaking ceremony the following day.