THE private jets have landed, the celebrities are filling the grand hotels and billionaires are taking over the city.
Yes, the wedding of the decade is finally here — and true to form for space-loving Jeff Bezos and his bride Lauren Sanchez, it will be out of this world.
The wedding of Jeff Bezos and his bride Lauren Sanchez will be out of this world[/caption]
Celebrations have already been taking place on board Jeff’s £370million superyacht Koru[/caption]
Guests will head to the Venetian island of San Giovanni Evangelista for a sumptuous banquet[/caption]
Tonight, approximately 200 of the world’s wealthiest and most famous faces will gather at the 15th-century Madonna dell’Orto church in Venice, before heading to the Venetian island of San Giovanni Evangelista for a sumptuous banquet.
The next day Jeff, 61, and Lauren, 55, will finally say “I do” at the open-air amphitheatre on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore — both most likely draped in Dolce & Gabbana haute couture.
And that is just a slice of what is to come.
Forget everything you know about vow exchanges, wedding breakfasts and DJ’d dancefloors, this super wedding, with an expected bill of around £35million, is going stratospheric.
Today may be the official start to proceedings, but celebrations have already been taking place 160 miles away, on board Jeff’s £370million superyacht Koru, which is anchored off the Croatian island of Cres.
The yacht was supposed to be a focal point for the three-day event in Venice, but thanks to heightened security measures and local protests, it is staying put in Croatia.
According to insiders, there had to be last-minute changes to some wedding plans following the US bombing raid on Iran and the threat of the war in the Middle East escalating.
Bezos, who is worth £165billion, and his billionaire friends are potential American targets, making his over-exposed yacht too much of a risk.
Foam party
There have also been left-leaning protests bubbling away on the ground, with posters popping up saying “No Space for Bezos” and “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax”.
With that in mind, it was decided that arriving on the world’s largest sailing yacht might not have helped the cause.
Instead, they flew in on private jet, but not before hosting a massive foam party on their boat.
Frolicking in the soapy suds, it was clear that the Amazon and Prime founder and former Fox news journalist Lauren were starting as they meant to go on — with fun, fizz and a bit of extra froth.
High-profile guests including Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka have been pouring into the city of love.
Other famous faces believed to be checking into one of Venice’s most luxurious hotels include Kim Kardashian and her mum Kris Jenner, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Eva Longoria and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The five-star Aman Venice, where Jeff and Lauren will be staying and where suites cost as much as £10,000 a night, has been fully booked out for the occasion, as have several other high-end hotels.
And they are not the only businesses profiting from the Bezos bonanza, with around 80 per cent of provisions for the wedding apparently being sourced locally.
Rosa Salva, Venice’s oldest pastry maker, is certainly not against the couple choosing her city to tie the knot.
She told reporters earlier this week: “I don’t see how an event with only 200 people can create disruptions. It’s responsible tourism.
“It’s prestigious that a couple like this, who can go anywhere in the world, are getting married in the city.”
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro added: “We are very proud. I don’t know if I will have time, or if he will, to meet and shake hands, but it’s an honour that they chose Venice.
200 of the world’s wealthiest and most famous faces will gather at the 15th-century Madonna dell’Orto church in Venice[/caption]
And it appears that Jeff and Lauren do want to honour the city.
In their wedding invitation — which was leaked this week and looked like it had been designed on clip art with its illustrations of birds and butterflies — they told guests they do not want presents.
Instead, they would be making donations on their behalf to “safeguard the city’s irreplaceable cultural heritage” and to “restore the vital lagoon habitats”.
As for the lavish events to come, tonight is just an appetiser.
With luxury wedding planners Lanza & Baucina at the helm — whose founders come from Italian royalty — it is no surprise they have access to some of the city’s most exclusive sites.
The firm also planned George and Amal Clooney’s Venetian nuptials in 2014.
The ceremony tomorrow promises to be a spectacular and sumptuous affair fit for the third richest man in the world.
Earlier this week, construction workers were seen building a white cover above the breathtaking amphitheatre at San Giorgio Maggiore, guaranteeing privacy from drones.
Once Mr and Mrs Bezos have made things official there, the party will dine out in style, with the requisite fireworks launched to seal the deal.
Closing the epic three-day event will be a grand ball on Saturday at the Arsenale, the city’s ancient shipyard.
The original plan was to end up at the city’s majestic Scuola Grande della Misericordia building in the centre, but the site has been deemed “logistically unfeasible” given the need for high security.
The Arsenale, which is practically unreachable to any would- be protesters, will see a performance by opera singer Matteo Bocelli, son of Andrea Bocelli.
As for the dress, it is widely believed that previously married mum-of-three Lauren will plump for Dolce & Gabbana for the ceremony itself.
Vanity project
She is close friends with the sartorial duo, who even featured her son Nikko, 24, in a fashion show last year.
She and Jeff were then spotted visiting their iconic store in Milan during March for an apparent dress fitting.
Nevertheless, multiple events call for multiple outfits and, according to insiders, designers Versace and Oscar de la Renta are also on the docket.
The latter was responsible for Lauren’s line of Blue Origin spacesuits that she and her all-female space-mates wore for their 11-minute rocket trip in May.
Lauren had intended that adventure to empower women by gathering a gaggle of girls, including singer Katy Perry and TV anchor Gayle King, and launching into space on a flight funded by Jeff’s space exploration firm.
But the journey was slammed for being just a self-congratulatory vanity project, not least because Katy Perry took the chance to announce her latest tour’s setlist while in zero gravity.
Needless to say, Lauren will this time be keen to strike that fine balance between ex- travagant and modest, proving that despite their love for rockets and superyachts, she and Jeff do have their feet firmly planted on the ground.
Still, the couple have survived rockier terrain. After all, news of their relationship came out in 2019 while they were both still married to other people.
Where the wedding banquet will be held[/caption]
The location of the lavish wedding, Venice[/caption]
Indeed, it was Lauren’s then husband, Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell, who introduced the pair.
Both Jeff and Lauren say their respective marriages had secretly ended before they got together.
They both then divorced their spouses, with Jeff’s ex-wife MacKenzie Scott — with whom he has four children — walking away with Amazon stock worth £36billion, making her one of the richest women in the world.
Since getting together with Lauren — and proposing to her with a 30-carat ring worth a reported £3.6million in 2023 — Jeff has transformed from a so-called nerd to a buffed-up tech guy.
He now seems happier hobnobbing with celebrities than he is chairing board meetings.
Lauren, for her part, has always lived a starry existence.
Her mega hen do weekend in Paris in May, which cost around £500,000 and gathered besties including Kim Kardashian and Eva Longoria, was a lesson in camera-ready luxury.
So, despite nerves surrounding security and an emphasis on discretion, it is only a matter of time before we see a gym-buffed Jeff and his designer-clad missus smiling broadly in their bridal best — either in the pages of Vanity Fair or Vogue.
In the meantime, it is safe to say that over the next few days they will be putting the more in amore.
Fellow billionaire Bill Gates will attend[/caption]
Orlando Bloom is also on the guest list[/caption]
Eva Longoria will also attend[/caption]
Greenpeace deployed a giant banner displaying a picture of Jeff Bezos, reading ‘If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax’[/caption]
Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Lauren Sanchez and Eva Longoria on the hen do in Paris[/caption]
Bride-to-be Lauren was aboard the recent Blue Origin shuttle[/caption]
Lauren with ex Patrick Whitesell[/caption]
Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott[/caption]
