Did Jeff Bezos Really Rent Out Venice for His Wedding to Lauren Sánchez?

Billionaire Jeff Bezos is ready to tie the knot again, this time with Lauren Sánchez, whom he went public with back in January 2019. Their wedding is slated to take place at the end of June 2025, and to say it will be extravagant would be an understatement.

After all, this is the guy who founded his own spaceflight company and proposed in 2023 with a 30-carat diamond estimated to be worth between $3 and $5 million, per People.

So, when rumors started swirling that Jeff might be renting out Venice (yes, the actual city in Italy known for its iconic canals) as his wedding venue, it wasn’t exactly surprising, but definitely worth looking into. Because seriously, how much would something like that even cost?

So, is Jeff Bezos really renting out Venice for his wedding to Lauren? Here’s everything to know, plus how people are reacting.

In a sense, Jeff Bezos does appear to be renting out parts of Venice, Italy, for his June 2025 wedding. Given his high profile and the A-list guests expected to attend, he’ll likely be blocking off certain areas to maintain privacy and prevent any uninvited guests from crashing the celebration.

However, the event planners behind the wedding, Lanza & Baucina Limited, issued a statement clarifying that Bezos has no intention of disrupting the city or interfering with daily life.

“From the outset, instructions from our client and our own guiding principles were abundantly clear: the minimizing 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 planners said in a statement, per Page Six.

The outlet also reported that Lanza & Baucina denied rumors that Bezos is “taking over the city” by booking an excessive number of water taxis or gondolas.

Still, Page Six later noted that Bezos has allegedly rented out the luxurious Aman Venice hotel, prompting some guests to be relocated. A source revealed to the outlet that the hotel is moving them to nearby options like the St. Regis, even offering complimentary nights and room upgrades.

So, while it seems Bezos is securing key locations, like the hotel he and his future wife will be staying at, and likely other select areas of Venice, he's also working to minimize disruption and give back to the city in more ways than one.

Not only is Bezos donating to local Venetian organizations, such as the UNESCO Venice Office, CORILA, and Venice International University, according to a wedding invitation obtained by ABC News, but he’s also sourcing 80 percent of the wedding supplies from local Venetian vendors, Page Six first reported.

Even so, it seems not everyone in Venice is thrilled that he’s chosen their city to host his wedding.

It would seem Italians aren’t exactly thrilled about Bezos coming to shut down parts of the city just to exchange vows for a second time.

Locals have even started protesting, holding signs that read “No space for Bezos” and laying out a banner in Piazza San Marco that says, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax,” alongside a photo of Bezos with his head thrown back, laughing, as seen in an Instagram post shared by @everyonehateselon_.

According to reports, some protesters are allegedly planning to disrupt the wedding or interfere with the festivities. It's their way of pushing back against Bezos, who they claim pays his workers “poverty wages,“ while hosting one of the most extravagant events of the year.