Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez wrap up three-day Venice wedding extravaganza Final party set to end Bezos-Sánchez wedding extravaganza in Venice
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez concluded their three-day-long Venetian extravaganza on Saturday evening with a celebration at the Arsenale, a former medieval shipyard. The pair was seen traveling via boat to the venue, which hosts the annual Venice Biennale, with reporters and paparazzi in tow.
Bezos is the founder of Amazon, the world's biggest online retailer. The Seattle-based company sells electronics, household goods and other products through its flagship website. It also controls the Whole Foods grocery chain and offers cloud computing and streaming services. Amazon had revenue of $638 billion in 2024. CNN’s Melissa Bell reported from a boat speeding alongside the couple’s, as they waved on. Sanchez was seen in a pink gown, later revealed by Vogue magazine to be designed by Atelier Versace, while Bezos was in a suit and matching black shirt.
Lauren Wendy Sánchez Bezos (née Sánchez; born December 19, 1969) is an American former journalist. She is a licensed pilot and founder of Black Ops Aviation, an aerial film and production company. Sánchez has been a guest host on The View, co-h
ost on KTTV Fox 11's Good Day L.A. and anchor on the Fox 11 News at Ten, and anchor and special correspondent on Extra. She has also been a regular contributor on shows including Larry King Live, The Joy Behar Show and Showbiz Tonight.
In 2024, Sánchez released her debut children's book, The Fly Who Flew to Space, which became a New York Times bestseller. On April 14, 2025, Sánchez flew as a passenger for the first all-female flight aboard the New Shepard rocket, dubbed
Earlier in the day, the bride and groom were spotted heading into Harry’s Bar, a fabled institution that once counted Ernest Hemingway among its customers. Meanwhile protestors gathered at the city’s train station for a march.
A secretive ceremony
On Friday, the Amazon billionaire and former journalist wed in a private ceremony held on the secluded, historic San Giorgio Maggiore island in the San Marco sestiere. The celebrity guest list included the Kardashian-Jenner family, Bill Gates, Karlie Kloss, Oprah Winfrey and Usher. The approximately 200 guests have seemingly honored a social media blackout once inside each of the weekend’s events.
The ceremony ended discreetly, except for a signal from the fashion world — a Vogue digital cover offering a first look at Sanchez’s gown. After much speculation (and not-so-subtle sightings of designer Domenico Dolce in Venice), it revealed her dress was a custom design by Dolce & Gabbana and was a year and a half in the making. The high-necked lace corseted gown had 180 silk chiffon-covered priest buttons dotting the front.
Over the course of the night, per Vogue, she had two more outfit changes: a sweetheart-neck dress — another reference, this time to the 1946 film “Gilda” — for the wedding dinner, and an intricate cocktail dress featuring 175,000 crystals by Oscar de la Renta.
San Giorgio Maggiore is known for its gleaming marble Renaissance-era basilicas, designed by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio. But there may have been another, more pragmatic reason the couple opted for the island: privacy.
The stars have come out to celebrate the union of former journalist Lauren Sanchez and billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos who celebrated their marriage on Friday on the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore in front of some 200 high-profile guests.
Throughout the three-day event which will conclude on Saturday, there’s been no shortage of glamour as celebrities including Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey and Leonardo DiCaprio have hopped on and off water taxis, turning the city’s canals into a floating red carpet.
Sanchez Bezos, as she is now known, has treated onlookers to glimpses of several pre-wedding ensembles, including a brocade corset dress from Schiaparelli's most recent couture show and a vintage gown by Alexander McQueen. On Friday, she was seen arriving at the wedding ceremony in an elegant Dior cream skirt suit, styled with an Hepburn-inspired silk headscarf and sunglasses.
The bride later walked down the aisle in a custom bridal gown by Italian luxury label Dolce & Gabanna. A year and half in the making, the high-necked design featuring 180 silk chiffon-covered priest buttons and featured tulle-and-lace veil, inspired by the one Sophia Loren wore in the 1958 film “Houseboat.”Details of the wedding and its surrounding celebrations have remained top secret, even as they have unfolded, largely in an effort to avoid disruptive protests. The extravaganza’s finale is set to happen Saturday night within Venice’s former medieval shipyard, the Arsenale — which has been modernized with cultural spaces and hosts the annual Venice Biennale. After ongoing protests in the city — including the threat of canal blockades, guerilla-style banners and uncanny Bezos mannequins — allegedly forced Sanchez and Bezos to change one of the weekend’s locations at the last minute, the security and inaccessibility of the island was reportedly a key factor in their decision. Venice’s Ministry of Tourism has estimated the celebrations will generate almost 68% of the city’s annual tourism turnover in just one weekend — but demonstrators have rallied against what they perceive to be a takeover of the idyllic Italian archipelago city by some of the world’s wealthiest people.During the ceremony, the pair likely exchanged rings symbolically. It remains unclear when the couple legally wed (or if they already have, prior to this week, in the US). A spokesperson for the mayor’s office in Venice had told CNN on Thursday that the city did not receive an official request from the couple, meaning the events this week are ceremonial and will not be legally binding.Shortly after the Vogue photos were released, Sanchez changed her Instagram account handle to Lauren Sanchez Bezos.
Star-studded bash
Before Friday’s celebration, Sanchez herself made her way to San Giorgio Maggiore dressed in a ‘60s-inspired tailored white skirt suit from Dior with a printed silk scarf wrapped Hepburn-style around her head, Jimmy Choo heels and an Hermès Kelly handbag. She blew kisses to photographers as she stepped into a water taxi.Guests have mingled all weekend wearing an array of luxury designers, including vintage Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana, Oscar de la Renta and Versace. On the way to the island, Kylie Jenner wore a powder blue long lace-up corset gown, Kim Kardashian chose a slick dark toffee-colored dress and Oprah opted for a draped pink mermaid silhouette.Billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos tied the knot with TV presenter Lauren Sanchez in a lavish wedding in Venice on Friday.Reality stars, actors, royals and a whole host of A-listers were trailed by paparazzi in water taxis as they made their way to the three-day event.Oprah Winfrey, Orlando Bloom, Kylie Jenner and Ivanka Trump were just some of the celebrities seen in the city for the star-studded event.The festivities are expected to end on Saturday with a large party in a former medieval shipyard, where Lady Gaga and Elton John are expected to perform.Wearing a lace Dolce & Gabbana haute couture gown that took 900 hours of atelier work, Sanchez told photographers that she "felt like a princess".Sanchez, 55, was later seen beaming alongside a jubilant Bezos, 61, after the ceremony, in a picture posted on Instagram, which was captioned with a love heart and the date.An estimated 200 people, 70 of whom are family, were invited to the nuptials, though Sanchez told Vogue that the event was "extremely intimate". Friday's ceremony took place on the small island of San Giorgio, where Matteo Bocelli - son of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli - reportedly performed.
While the exact cost of the wedding is not known, estimates range from $20m (£14m) to more than $50m.
The event has attracted protests from a variety of groups in Venice, from locals fighting over-tourism to climate change activists.
This will be the second wedding for both Sanchez and Bezos. The couple have seven children between them from previous marriages and relationships. They got engaged in May 2023 on board their 417-foot sailing yacht, Koru, named after a Maori symbol for "new life." In November 2023, the pair held an engagement party in Beverly Hills, with Oprah Winfrey, Salma Hayek Pinault, Barbra Streisand, Kris Jenner in attendance. Newlyweds Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sánchez left their luxury hotel on Venice’s Grand canal on Saturday for a final night of partying, crowning a three-day star-studded wedding extravaganza. Bezos, 61, and Sanchez, 55, exchanged rings on Friday evening on the small island of San Giorgio, across the water from St Mark’s Square, accompanied by singing from Matteo Bocelli, son of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady, Jordan’s Queen Rania, Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner and Kim and Khloé Kardashian, as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, were among the A-listers present. Saturday’s evening bash – wrapping up celebrations for 200-250 guests estimated to have cost $50m (£37m) – was due to take place in the Arsenale, a former medieval shipyard in an eastern district of the lagoon city.
About 1,000 people marched against the event on Saturday, groups of activists and residents who objected to the wedding and to seeing being gift-wrapped for the uber-wealthy.
Some guests were seen leaving the Gritti Palace hotel in central Venice wearing their pyjamas, sometimes beneath colourful dressing gowns, before boarding small boats to reach the party.Bezos and Sánchez had a more sober style. He was sporting a black shirt and suit, while she wore a soft-pink off-the-shoulder dress. They kissed on the boat while greeting those around them.
At the ceremony the bride wore a high-necked silhouette dress and a tulle and lace veil by Dolce & Gabbana, which she told Vogue magazine was based on Sophia Loren’s dress to marry Cary Grant in the 1958 film, Houseboat. Sánchez was also wearing a pair of diamond earrings by Dolce & Gabbana, which, according to Vogue, was lent to her in keeping with the tradition that it brings good luck for a bride to wear something borrowed.
Bezos, who is No 4 on Forbes’ global billionaires list, donned a black tuxedo and bow tie over a white shirt.
Friday’s ceremony had no legal status under Italian law, a senior city hall official told Reuters, suggesting the couple may have previously wed legally in the United States to avoid the bureaucracy associated with an Italian marriage.
While some residents and activists raged against Bezos as a symbol of inequality and arrogance, Venetian businesses and political leaders welcomed the luxury nuptials, hailing them as a major boost for the local economy.
“Those who protest are in contradiction with the history of Venice, which is a history of relations, contacts and business,” mayor Luigi Brugnaro told Reuters.
“Bezos embodies the Venetian mentality. He is more Venetian than the protesters,” said the centre-right mayor, adding that he hoped Bezos, who donated €3m (£2.5m) to local institutions, would return to the city to do business. Brugnaro said Bezos had attached no conditions to holding his wedding celebrations in Venice, and city hall had only learned about his donations after they had been made.Bezos, Amazon’s executive chair, got engaged to Sánchez in 2023, four years after the collapse of his 25-year marriage to novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.Some guests were seen leaving the Gritti Palace hotel in central Venice wearing their pyjamas, sometimes beneath colourful dressing gowns, before boarding small boats to reach the party.Bezos and Sanchez had a more sober style. He was sporting a black shirt and suit, while she wore a soft-pink off-the-shoulder dress. They kissed on the boat while greeting those around them.At the ceremony the bride wore a high-necked silhouette dress and a tulle and lace veil by Dolce & Gabbana, which she told magazine Vogue was based on Sophia Loren's dress to marry Cary Grant in the 1958 film, Houseboat.
Sanchez was also wearing a pair of diamond earrings by Dolce & Gabbana, which, according to Vogue, was lent to her in keeping with the tradition that it brings good luck for a bride to wear something borrowed.
BUSINESSES, POLITICIANS WELCOME EVENT
Friday's ceremony had no legal status under Italian law, a senior city hall official told Reuters, suggesting the couple may have previously wed legally in the United States to avoid the bureaucracy associated with an Italian marriage.
While some residents and activists raged against Bezos as a symbol of inequality and arrogance, Venetian businesses and political leaders welcomed the luxury nuptials, hailing them as major boost for the local economy.
"Those who protest are in contradiction with the history of Venice, which is a history of relations, contacts and business," Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told Reuters.
"Bezos embodies the Venetian mentality. He is more Venetian than the protesters," said centre-right mayor, adding that he hoped Bezos, who donated 3 million euros ($3.51 million) to local institutions, would return to the city to do business.
Brugnaro said Bezos had attached no conditions to holding his wedding celebrations in Venice, and City Hall had only learned about his donations after they had already been made.
Bezos, Amazon's executive chair, got engaged to Sanchez in 2023, four years after the collapse of his 25-year marriage to novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.
- Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez waved goodbye to Venice as their wedding celebrations wrapped on June 29
- The Amazon founder and the Emmy award-winning journalist were all smiles as they left their hotel by water taxi
- Bezos and Sánchez tied the knot on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Italy on June 27
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's wedding celebrations have officially come to a close.The Amazon founder, 61, and the Emmy award-winning journalist, 55, tied the knot on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice, Italy, on Friday, June 27.After the ceremony, which took place amid similarly extravagant special events, the newlyweds bid the site of their nuptials adieu on Sunday, June 29.
The couple was all smiles as they departed Venice. They were photographed waving as they left their hotel by water taxi, and later, as they made their final exit from the city itself.
Sanchez wore a white minidress that she paired with some perfect travel accessories, all in black: a wide-brim hat, kitten heels and sunglasses. She also carried a snakeskin Hermès Birkin bag.
Bezos, meanwhile, kept things simple in a pair of gray pants, a navy T-shirt and, to combat the Italian sun while making their final exit, a pair of sunglasses.
The couple's final goodbye to Venice came just hours after the newlyweds treated their star-studded guest list to a pajama-themed wedding party — and the "epic" send-off lasted until the early hours.
A source told PEOPLE exclusively of the bash, "It was great. It went until 4 in the morning [and] started at 7:00 p.m. It was a pajama-themed party with everyone wearing silk and robes and slippers. It was epic. A full-fledged dance party with everyone standing on the banquettes and all of the sofas and couches."
Guests were treated to performances from Usher and DJ Cassidy, and everyone from Oprah Winfrey and Leonardo DiCaprio to Kris Jenner and Cory Gamble danced "from start to finish," the insider said.
The day before the late-night PJ extravaganza, the couple said their “I dos” surrounded by family and friends, with around 200 guests in attendance. Sánchez's sons Nikko, 24, and Evan, 19, walked her down the aisle, while her daughter Ella, 17, served as maid of honor.
Soon after tying the knot, Sánchez — who officially confirmed her marriage by changing her Instagram handle and name in bio to "Lauren Sánchez Bezos" just hours after the ceremony — posted her first wedding photo with the billionaire.
“It went from ‘I want a simple, sexy modern dress’ to ‘I want something that evokes a moment,’ and where I am right now," Sánchez told the magazine. "I am a different person than I was five years ago."
The journalist added that it would be the first formal dress she’s ever worn that is so covered up across the chest. “It is a departure from what people expect, from what I expect — but it’s very much me," she said.
In a video posted by Vogue on Instagram, Sánchez said: "It just feels like, I don't know, it carries everything I've walked through to get here. It's elegant, it's timeless, it's soft."
Sánchez grew up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and studied broadcast journalism at the University of Southern California. She began anchoring UPN News 13 on Los Angeles' KCOP in 1999, where her team won a Los Angeles Area Emmy award in 2001.
Sánchez went on to work as a host at various news channels before landing at Fox 11's "Good Day LA" in 2003, where she worked for six years. She then became a weekend anchor and special correspondent on "Extra" in 2009.
In addition to once being an anchor in real life, Sánchez has played a news anchor in movies including "Fight Club," "The Day After Tomorrow," and "The Fantastic Four."
She also used to host a dancing reality show; Sánchez was a host on the first season of Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" in 2005, but she left the show after one season.
Sánchez's aviation career and company
Sánchez is also a licensed plane and helicopter pilot.
Sánchez learned how to fly while working as a news anchor and she started flying planes in 2011 before getting her helicopter pilot's license in 2016.
Posted on 2025/06/30 01:57 PM