Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez leave hotel for Venice reception

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(26 Jun 2025)
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RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Venice, Italy - 26 June 2025
1. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez leave Aman Hotel to board boat
2. Boat drives away to reception
3. Bezos and Sanchez wave from top of boat
UPSOUND:
(Reporter: What's the best (part) of Venice for you?)
Bezos: "Look at it. (inaudible) It's an impossible city. It can't exist, and yet here it is"
STORYLINE:
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez left their hotel in Venice on Thursday evening to attend a reception in the Italian city ahead of their weekend wedding.

The details of the nuptials have been a tightly kept secret, though the guest list has firmed up, as have the reported locations for the three days of parties and receptions, including a cloister in the Cannaregio district, the San Giorgio island and the Arsenale district, best known as the venue for the Biennale art fair.

Veneto governor Luca Zaia has said the extravaganza is costing between 40 million and 48 million euros (US$46.7 million to $56 million). He told reporters this week that it would bring 90 private jets to the Treviso and Venice airports and a celebrity quotient that would “bring visibility and promotion" to Venice that he said was worth more than five American Super Bowls.

The wedding has divided Venice, with some activists protesting it as an exploitation of the city by the billionaire Bezos while ordinary residents suffer from over-tourism, high housing costs and the constant threat of climate-induced flooding.

The city administration has strongly defended the nuptials as keeping with Venice’s tradition as an open city that has welcomed popes, emperors and ordinary visitors alike for centuries.

Bezos donated 1 million euros each to three environmental research organizations working to preserve Venice, according to Corila, the Venetian environmental research association.

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