Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez tie the knot in star-studded Venice wedding

Business Standard

3 hours ago

The wedding celebration of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez culminated on Friday night when Sánchez confirmed that couple had tied the knot with an Instagram post, showing herself, looking ecstatic, in a lacy white wedding gown alongside a tuxedoed Bezos. She posted under the name Lauren Sánchez Bezos.
The ceremony, marking the second marriage for both parties, took place in Venice's verdant San Giorgio island, facing the Doge's Palace, which the couple, and some 200 designer-clad guests, had reached via motorboat earlier in the evening.
From the shores of an island opposite San Giorgio, the crowd was heard roaring on Friday evening, before Matteo Bocelli, the son of the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, sang an emotional love song.
The wedding of the tech billionaire, who also owns The Washington Post and is one of the world's richest men, came in the middle of a flashy three-day celebration in Venice, which had attracted huge attention — and some controversy.
The guest list, which had been closely guarded, included friends, family, billionaires and stars, a crowd which began to arrive in Venice earlier this week on private planes and the occasional yacht anchoring in the lagoon surrounding the city.
Attendees were captured by a swarm of paparazzi who patiently manned boats and other perches around Venice, and they ran the gamut from longtime moguls like Oprah Winfrey and Barry Diller to omnipresent cultural forces like the Kardashian and Jenner families.
Hollywood was well represented, including by stars like Orlando Bloom and Leonardo DiCaprio, as was the world of music, with one-name performers like Usher and Jewel in attendance. Tom Brady, the former football titan, was there. And, as was to be expected for the wedding of Bezos, who created one of the world's largest fortunes by pioneering online shopping with Amazon, the guest list also included major tech figures like Bill Gates and Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI.
Despite his ownership of The Post, which has at times been critical of the Trump administration, Bezos has become friends with President Trump, attending his second inauguration with Sánchez. The president did not attend the wedding, but his daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, did, as did Kushner's brother, Josh, and his wife, Karlie Kloss, the model.
The celebrations started on Thursday with a party at Venice's Madonna dell'Orto cloister, which was interrupted by a violent thunderstorm. The festivities were expected to continue on Saturday with a reception at a former shipyard complex.
It remained unclear whether the couple were legally married in Venice or had previously signed the papers elsewhere. The authorities in Venice said they had not officiated any civil ceremony in the city for the couple.
Requests for comment and clarification from a representative of Bezos, Neal Karlinsky, were not immediately returned.
Vogue magazine confirmed the nuptials in a cover look released on Friday, with the bride in a dress by Dolce & Gabbana. The dress, with a mermaid gown silhouette and high neck, was inspired by the dress worn by the actress Sophia Loren in the 1958 film 'Houseboat,' according to Vogue. It was completed by a long white veil.
While Stefano Gabbana from Dolce & Gabbana told Vogue that Sánchez had wanted 'to do a very classic and elegant wedding,' not 'something very flashing or bling bling,' the celebrations so far have not been modest.
The couple chose one of the world's most ostentatious cities, where enormous Murano glass chandeliers can be seen through the windows of sumptuous palaces on the Grand Canal. They fully booked two of Venice's most lavish hotels, the Gritti and the Aman, for the guests, and commissioned dozens of motorboats, the only way to get around in a carless city.
The scope of the festivities, as well as Bezos' wealth and connections, meant the city's authorities and business owners largely welcomed the events. But those elements also stirred the anger of many critics.
Some Venetians and a broader group of anti-millionaires and climate activists staged protests voicing their opposition to the nuptials and Bezos' disproportionate wealth. Many saw the wedding and related events as the embodiment of the city's sellout to highest bidder, with Venice reduced to a glittery background for the photos of the tourists and the rich.
Bezos' and Sánchez's marriage came after about six years of public courtship. Their relationship entered the tabloid limelight when a series of racy texts he sent her, dating to a period when both parties were married to their previous spouses, were published by the National Enquirer in 2019. Bezos later accused the Enquirer of 'extortion and blackmail,' in a post on Medium.
Since then, the couple has had been a steady presence in the elite social scene — seen at dinners and galas, and on the pages of glossy magazines — with increasing visibility as their wedding approached. That included the short spaceflight Sánchez took on a Blue Origin rocket, owned by Bezos, with a handful of other prominent women in April.
In a departure from the style of the couple's prenuptial foam party earlier this week on their yacht, Sánchez left her hotel on Friday wearing a cream skirt suit, a scarf over her hair and sunglasses, seemingly inspired by Audrey Hepburn. Little was publicized about the wedding celebrations, and what was released was meant to emphasise the couple's love of Venice and its artisans, including that they used local vendors.
The choice of the wedding dress, Sánchez told Vogue, 'went from 'I want a simple, sexy modern dress' to 'I want something that evokes a moment,' and where I am right now.' she said. 'I am a different person than I was five years ago.'