Billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez tied the knot in a wedding ceremony on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice on Friday.
Sánchez posted a photo to her Instagram of herself beaming in a white gown as she stood alongside tuxedo-clad Bezos, the world’s fourth-richest man.
Dozens of private jets flocked to Venice’s airports and yachts pulled into the city’s waterways as guests arrived for the ceremony.
Celebrities including members of the Kardashian family as well as Oprah Winfrey were in Venice to attend the wedding.
It was the second day of events spread across the Italian lagoon city. On Friday afternoon, Sánchez emerged from her hotel wearing a silk scarf on her head and blew a kiss to journalists before stepping into her water taxi. It carried her through the canals to San Giorgio island, across the lagoon basin from St. Mark’s Square, where the couple reportedly held their wedding ceremony.
The wedding has divided the Italian city. Some activists protest it as exploitation of Venice by Bezos while ordinary residents suffer from over tourism, high housing costs and the constant threat of climate-induced flooding.
About a dozen Venetian organisations, including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groups, have united to protest the multi-day wedding under the banner “No Space For Bezos.”
Protesters have staged small-scale protests, unfurling anti-Bezos banners on iconic Venetian landmarks. Critics cite Amazon’s labour practices, ongoing tax disputes with European governments and Bezos’ political associates as reasons for concern.
The city’s governor Luca Zaia has strongly defended the wedding as an economic and reputation boon for Venice, saying the price tag he had seen was between €40 million and €48 million.
Bezos donated 1 million each to three environmental research organisations working to preserve Venice, according to Corila, the Venetian environmental research association.
