Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez Wedding Protested in Venice: Photos

Venice officials have confirmed the Amazon founder will be getting married in the city, saying the celebrations were expected to include some 200 guests. The events are expected to take place this week, though reports have suggested different dates.

Details about the wedding have been scarce, but if attendees at the couple’s two engagement parties or Sánchez’s bachelorette in Paris are any indication, the guest list could include celebrities such as Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian, and Bill Gates.

Federica Toninello, an organizer of the protest, told demonstrators that they wanted to discourage the idea of Venice as a haven for tourists and cited the rising costs of living in the city, The New York Times reported.

She also said during the demonstration that the group has heard the wedding could be taking place at The Misericordia, a cultural and event center, and that if it does, they will try to block wedding attendees from reaching it.

“We will line the streets with our bodies, block the canals with lifesavers, dinghies, and our boats,” she told the crowd.

Venice Mayor Luigi Brugnaro has said the city welcomes the wedding and is committed to ensuring it does not disrupt daily life for Venetians.

The city has also said that the 200 expected guests are well within Venice’s ability to host and on par with other weddings and events hosted in the city throughout the year.

Sources close to Bezos and Sanchez told The Associated Press that the couple is sourcing around 80% of their wedding provisions from local vendors to show their appreciation for Venice.

Though the city has said it is not concerned about the impact of Bezos’s wedding, Venice has taken measures to address overtourism in recent years. The city introduced cruise ship size limits in 2021 and last year enacted an entrance fee for day-trippers during the busy season.

Alan Fyall, the Visit Orlando endowed chair of tourism marketing at the University of Central Florida’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management, said Italy has long been a popular luxury wedding destination for Americans, and that the reported size of Bezos’ wedding suggests it would not be a significant disruption.

But he said the protests demonstrate how high frustrations with overtourism in Venice have gotten.

“It all comes back to the bigger problem,” he added.

Protesters have said they will try to disrupt the wedding events, which are expected to take place over several days this week.

More protesters demonstrated in Venice on Monday at the start of the anticipated wedding week.

Greenpeace Italy activists unveiled a large sign in the historic St. Mark’s Square that read, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.”

Do you have a tip or a story to share about Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s wedding? Contact this reporter at kvlamis@businessinsider.com.