Updated June 26, 2025 at 10:07 AM ET
As celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Tom Brady descend on Venice for the destination wedding of tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sánchez, some locals are protesting the event's extreme extravagance and what they see as the exploitation of their city.
Bezos — the Amazon founder and Washington Post owner — is one of the world's richest men, with an estimated net worth of $231 billion according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index. He and Sánchez — a former news anchor and licensed pilot — got engaged in 2023, four years after going public with their relationship.
Their nuptials have been the subject of speculation and intense secrecy ever since.
After returning from the brief — and widely panned — all-female spaceflight she organized on one of Bezos' Blue Origin rockets in April, Sánchez quipped that she had to make it back safely for her wedding, otherwise "that would be a bummer for me."
Sánchez's brother Paul has compared it to the 1981 royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer, telling TMZ in March, "I think it's gonna be like a Princess Di thing."
While precise details about the wedding remain under wraps, Italian media and global newswires report it will be held in Venice in late June. Reports of a multiday, multimillion-dollar affair — is expected to draw hundreds of celebrants to a fragile lagoon city already grappling with overtourism — sparked concerns in Italy.
In March, the city of Venice denied media reports that wedding organizers had reserved large numbers of gondolas and water taxis for the event, which had fueled fears of disruptions for the tourists and locals who use them for daily transport.
Venetian officials said there would be only 200 guests, an easily accommodated number for a city used to hosting all sorts of political summits, cultural events and VIP weddings (including George and Amal Clooney's in 2014).
"We are mutually working and supporting the organizers, to ensure that the event will be absolutely respectful of the fragility and uniqueness of the city," Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said, according to the Associated Press.
But that hasn't stopped protesters from making their disapproval known. Activists uniting under the "No Space for Bezos" movement — nodding to the couples' spacefaring pursuits — have taken issue with what they call the privatization of their city and the local government's perceived prioritization of tourism over the needs of its residents.
Throughout the month, protesters have hung anti-Bezos posters and banners on various locations across the city, including the bell tower of the San Giorgio Maggiore basilica and the famous Rialto Bridge. On Monday, activists from Greenpeace Italy and the U.K. group "Everyone Hates Elon [Musk]" joined the action, Reuters reports.
They hung a banner in St. Mark's Square, with a picture of Bezos laughing and the words: "If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax."
Lanza & Baucina Limited, the organizers of the Bezos-Sánchez wedding, have released a rare statement seeking to set the record straight about "rumours of 'taking over' the city," calling them "entirely false and diametrically opposed to our goals and to reality."
It said "no exaggerated quantity" of water taxis or gondolas were booked, and the number of taxis reserved is "proportionate for the number of guests."
"From the outset, instructions from our client and our own guiding principles were abundantly clear: the minimising of any disruption to the city, the respect for its residents and institutions and the overwhelming employment of locals in the crafting of the events," the firm told NPR in a statement on Monday.
When asked for comment, an Amazon spokesperson referred NPR to the organizers' statement.
Simone Venturini, Venice's councilor for tourism, told NPR in a statement that the city is honored to host the wedding, which he said "highlights our city's international appeal and its capacity to welcome high-profile events with both discretion and efficiency."
"The objections voiced by a few dozen professional protesters — driven solely by a desire for media attention — do not represent the spirit of Venice; they reflect little more than social envy," Venturini added. "Venice has always been — and remains — open, welcoming, and respectful, ready to embrace every visitor who honors our city's heritage."
Here's what else we know — and still don't — about the wedding and the protests against it.
Where and when is the wedding?
Most reports say the wedding celebrations will span three days, but the exact dates vary.
Reuters and others say the window is likely June 26-28, while the AP — citing Italian media — previously reported it could be June 24-26.
There have been similarly conflicting reports about the ceremony's whereabouts.
A spokesperson for Brugnaro, Venice's mayor, told CNN in March that it would take place on Bezos' 417-foot superyacht, the Koru. The ship has made headlines before: In 2022, the Dutch city of Rotterdam considered temporarily dismantling a historic bridge to allow the Koru to leave the shipyard where it was built — but reversed course after residents protested, including threatening to egg it.
But other outlets, including CNN and The Hollywood Reporter, report that the couple may get married on the private island of San Giorgio Maggiore, specifically in a monastery there.
The "No Space for Bezos" activists, meanwhile, have said the wedding was to take place in the 14th-century Scuola Grande della Misericordia, a school armory-turned-event venue, according to EuroNews and CNN.
"Bezos will never get to the Misericordia," organizer Federica Toninello told supporters at a protest earlier this month, per CNN. "We will block the canals, line the streets with our bodies, block the canals with inflatables, dinghies, boats."
It seems protesters' efforts paid off. On Tuesday, the "No Space for Bezos" Instagram account announced that the event scheduled for the Misericordia had been relocated to the Arsenale, according to translations from Reuters and Newsweek. It also said Bezos' two yachts, Koru and Abeona, will not be able to dock in Venice.
The Arsenale, a complex of former shipyards and armories, was the hub of Venice's naval industry starting in the 13th century. More recently, it is used as an exhibition site of the Venice Biennale, an international cultural event held annually in the city since 1895. The area is more isolated and secure than the Misericordia, with Reuters reporting that it is surrounded by water and "impossible" to reach by land once its connecting bridges have been raised.
Sandro Mattei, a native Venetian who lives near the Arsenale, told NPR on Thursday that while there are more police in the area, things are "completely under control." While he is used to disruptions from big annual events like the Venice International Film Festival, Mattei says the Bezos-Sánchez wedding prep hasn't been an inconvenience at all.
"The gondoliers, for example, do work normally as every day," he added. "Everything is absolutely normal; there is nothing different with respect to all the other days of the year."
Why are people protesting?
Locals opposed to the wedding festivities have multiple concerns, ranging from logistical disruptions to environmental impacts of a sudden influx of yachts and private jets.
"Bezos is basically going to treat the whole city as a private ballroom, as a private event area, as if the citizens are not there," protester Alice Bazzoli told Sky News.
The island city is actively sinking due to rising sea levels and mass tourism. In an effort to curb the latter, it now requires day-trippers over the age of 14 to pay a daily tax on certain days (either 5 or 10 euros depending on timing) to visit its 2.5 square-mile historic city center.
The massive influx of tourists has worsened the housing crisis, as many residential buildings have been converted into short-term rentals, and led to a drop in the population as many residents try their luck elsewhere.
It's against this backdrop that Bezos and Sánchez are arriving for their wedding, which regional governor Luca Zaia has said is expected to cost the equivalent of $23-$34 million. While Zaia says that will give a much-needed boost to the local economy, people protesting the event worry they won't personally experience the benefits of that money.
"Venice (like everywhere) needs public services and housing, not VIPs and over-tourism," Greenpeace UK said on Bluesky. " It's time to #TaxTheSuperRich and make them pay for the destruction they cause – the world is not their playground."
Not everyone agrees with the protesters. Mattei said "99% of Venetian people are positive that Jeff Bezos is very welcome in Venice."
Noting that tourism is critical to the local economy, his own job as a rental property manager included, Mattei said Venetians are proud to have been chosen as the wedding destination and eager to welcome guests.
"If the tourism is of a high level, like in this case with Jeff Bezos, it is the best for us," he added. "People are in the luxury hotels, people go to the best restaurants, there [is] money for everybody."
What has the response been to protests?
Venice's mayor, Brugnaro, told reporters Friday that he was ashamed of the protesters, saying "we will have to apologize to Bezos."
"I hope that Bezos comes anyway," he said. "Not all Venetians think like these protesters."
The wedding organizers, Lanza & Baucina Limited, said in their statement that since before the protests broke out, it had "worked for there to be minimal negative impact or disruption to the lives of Venetians and the city's visitors."
"We have always acknowledged the wider debate and critical issues surrounding the city's future, and from the outset our client has been honoured to support the city and its all-important lagoon through non-profit organisations and associated projects," the company added.
Bezos has made sizable contributions to Venetian charities in the lead-up to the wedding, including a million-euro donation to Corila, an academic consortium that studies Venice's lagoon ecosystem, Reuters reports. According to the AP, Corila confirmed over the weekend that Bezos' Earth Fund had made an "important donation" back in April, well before protests started.
Venturini, the tourism official, thanked Bezos and Sánchez for what he called "their decision to donate substantial sums to [organizations] dedicated to safeguarding and protecting our lagoon."
"Now that's a genuine act of love for the city, unlike those contrived protests," he added.
The AP reports that at least two historic Venetian companies will contribute to the festivities: Rosa Salva, the city's oldest pastry maker, and Laguna B, a design studio famous for its distinctive, handmade Murano glassware.
Antonio Rosa Salva, the 6th generation in his family to run the bakery, said he will be supplying a selection of treats for guests' goody bags — and welcomes the honor.
"I don't see how an event with 200 people can create disruptions," he told the AP. "It's prestigious that a couple like this, who can go anywhere in the world, are getting married in the city."
Who is on the guest list?
In the weeks before the wedding, reports emerged of a star-studded guest list featuring influential figures in business, entertainment and politics.
Paparazzi photos captured some of those guests as they started to arrive — via private jets and water taxis — on Wednesday and Thursday.
In addition to Winfrey and Brady, they include Jordan's Queen Rania, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Diane von Furstenberg, Barry Diller and Orlando Bloom.
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