Jeff Bezos to hold star-studded 'wedding of the century' in Venice with city's 'entire fleet of water taxis booked out'
28 March 2025, 07:02
Jeff Bezos is set to hold "the wedding of the century" in Venice, with the location apparently revealed by the Italian city's mayor.
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The multibillionaire Amazon founder, among the world's richest men, is set to marry fiancee Lauren Sanchez, who will be his second wife.
Bezos and Sanchez's wedding location was revealed by Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro on Thursday.
"This event will bring economic returns of millions of euros to the city," Mr Brugnaro said. "“We were in competition with other places but we won out," he added.
Local official Morris Ceron said that Domenico Dolce - of Dolce & Gabbana fame - had a hand in persuading Bezos to hold the wedding to Venice.
He told a local paper: "Seven months ago Domenico Dolce told me Bezos was getting married. I got to work to bring this marriage of the century to Venice — that’s how it started."
Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and Jared Kushner, Kim Kardashian, Eva Longoria, Katy Perry and his fiancée Orlando Bloom, and Oprah Winfrey are said to be on the invite list.
The wedding is expected to last three days on June 24-26 this year - with restaurant owners, hoteliers, gondoliers and water taxi drivers all set to benefit.
All the water taxis in the iconic city, which is based around a lagoon, have been hired in advance, according to reports in the Italian media.
Top hotels like the Belmond Hotel Cipriani and the Gritti Palace have all also been fully booked.
The exact wedding remains unclear, with some reports suggesting the couple could request the Doge's Palace by St Mark's Square, or the Arsenal, the area further from the centre where Venetians used to build their ships.
Or they could get married on Bezos' yacht Koru, which one local official said would explain why the booked all the water-taxis.
Bezos and Sanchez have been engaged since May 2023. He is said to have given her a ring worth $2.5 million (£1.93 million).
They held an engagement party later that summer on Bezos' yacht off the Amalfi coast, also in Italy. Guests included Leonardo di Caprio and Bill Gates.
Bezos divorced his first wife MacKenzie Scott in 2019 after 25 years of marriage. They have four children together.
