Bezos and Sanchez to exchange wedding vows in star-studded Venice party

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez were set to exchange marriage vows at a ceremony in Venice on Friday, part of a three-day wedding extravaganza that has attracted dozens of celebrity guests but also protests by local activists.

Bezos, 61, and Sanchez, 55, will exchange rings on the small island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark's Square, accompanied by singing from Matteo Bocelli, son of the famous Italian pop-opera tenor Andrea Bocelli.

The ceremony will have no legal status under Italian law, a senior city hall official told Reuters, suggesting that the couple may have already legally wed in the United States, avoiding the bureaucracy associated with an Italian marriage.

The festivities, estimated to cost around $50 million (Ksh.6.4 billion), culminate on Saturday with a party in a former medieval shipyard where Lady Gaga and Elton John are reportedly set to perform.

Bill Gates, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady, the queen of Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner and Kim and Khloe Kardashian, as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner and Domenico Dolce from Dolce & Gabbana, are among the 200-250 guests.

Amid tight security, there have been glimpses of the celebrities moving around town, the women in summer dresses and high heels stepping somewhat gingerly off boats ferrying them around the city's canals.

Celebrations began on Thursday evening in the cloisters of Madonna dell'Orto, a medieval church in the central district of Cannaregio that hosts masterpieces by 16th-century painter Tintoretto.

"This magical place has gifted us unforgettable memories," the bride and groom said on their wedding invitation, in which they asked for "no gifts" and pledged charity donations for three Venetian institutions.

'GIFT-WRAPPED' VENICE

Businesses have welcomed the glitz and glamour, but it is being resisted by a local protest movement whose members resent what they see as Venice being gift-wrapped for ultra-rich outsiders. Bezos is No. 4 on Forbes' billionaires list.

Giulia Cacopardo, a 28-year-old representative of the "No Space for Bezos" movement, complained that the needs of ordinary people were being neglected in a city that is a tourist magnet and fast depopulating largely due to the soaring cost of living. Venice's city centre has fewer than 50,000 residents, compared to almost 100,000 in the late 1970s.

"When you empty a city of its inhabitants, you can turn it into a stage for big events," Cacopardo told Reuters. "(But) the money that Bezos spends on this wedding does not end up in the pockets of Venetians. The owners of luxury hotels are not Venetians."

Cacopardo was one of 30-40 activists who staged a protest in St Mark's Square on Thursday, chanting "We are the 99%" as a masked couple posed as bride and groom and one man climbed a pole to unfurl a banner reading "The 1% ruins the world".

The anti-Bezos front is planning a march on Saturday, and their activities have already led authorities to step up security and move the location of Saturday's party to a more secluded part of Venice, the Arsenale former shipyard.

But politicians, hoteliers and other Venice residents are happy about the wedding, saying that such events do more to support the local economy than the multitudes of day-trippers who normally overrun the city.

"We are happy and honoured to welcome Jeff Bezos and his consort Lauren Sanchez," said Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, who sent white roses to the bride and a maxi-bottle of Amarone luxury red wine to the groom.

Italy's Tourism Ministry said it carried out a study estimating at 957 million euros (Ksh.144.6 billion) the overall economic impact of the wedding, including an 896 million euro benefit from "media visibility", and the rest coming from direct or indirect spending related to the event.

Bezos, Amazon's executive chair, got engaged to Sanchez in 2023, four years after the collapse of his 25-year marriage to MacKenzie Scott.