Jeff Bezos, the world’s third-richest person and founder of Amazon, is set to marry former TV journalist Lauren Sánchez in an extravagant wedding in Venice. That very exciting event is scheduled to start on June 24 and run for nearly a week. If the speculation is to be believed, the opulent wedding will cost upwards of £8.4 million – one of the most ostentatious bashes the city has witnessed in years.
The festivities will take place in Venice, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, which has been a focal point of both admiration and concern among locals. The wedding promises to be the most star-studded of any public figure. Look for familiar faces like Kim Kardashian, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey, and Ivanka Trump! If gossip columnists are to be believed, their guests will be slumming it at €9,000-per-night hotels.
Venice’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, announced the wedding plans himself way back in March. If confirmed, this would be the largest wedding to take place in Venice since George Clooney married Amal Alamuddin there in 2014. The celebration comes amid mounting tension among local residents and activists who are expressing their discontent with Bezos’s association with controversial figures and issues related to Amazon’s treatment of workers.
Local activist Marta Sottoriva, a regular fixture in Venice and national media, has long protested the damage done to a fragile city by popularizing such high-profile events.
“There’s a lot of anger in the air because once again the council has enslaved itself to the logic of profit – our city has been sold to the highest bidder.” – Marta Sottoriva
Sottoriva and other activists have launched a “No space for Bezos” campaign aimed at raising awareness about the implications of the wedding on the city. And to build public support for their cause, they’ve been handing out flyers and holding public meetings. She continued to air her grievances on how the impact of the event has altered daily life in Venice.
“Every time an event of this kind happens, the city comes to a standstill, certain areas become inaccessible and even more tourists arrive. This wedding really is the symbol of all that is wrong with Venice.” – Marta Sottoriva
Now the campaigners are preparing to mount a huge counter-demonstration on the big day itself. All they want to do is raise awareness of their issues. This growing unrest reflects a broader sentiment among residents who feel that Venice’s charm is being overshadowed by commercial interests and mass tourism.
Local official Simone Venturini, featured in the clip below, tried to provide a reality check to the provincial view.
“Venice has already hosted more complex and impactful events.” – Simone Venturini
As controversial as such high-profile nuptials can be, he said, they are a signal of the city’s magnetic appeal. Venturini found a much-discussed rhetorical question about Venice’s beauty and its effects.
“Is it perhaps a fault that Venice is the most beautiful city in the world?” – Simone Venturini
Now, as preparations for Bezos and Sánchez’s fancy wedding go full steam ahead, local sentiments are still mixed. Fewer locals can publicly express their concerns about the repercussions of such a costly, ostentatious jubilee on their cities. For decades, the most western community has fought overtourism and commercialization.
The wedding celebrations will take place June 24-26. According to new reports, the official swearing-in ceremony will take place June 28. As that date nears, everyone’s attention will shift to Venice. The city is America at once both glorious and sordid, the still smoldering ground zero of the unsuccessful fight to save culture and community from wealth and celebrity.