Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez tied the knot today surrounded by their celebrity friends in a $20 million Venice wedding ceremony.
Celebrities have flocked to the small city for the Amazon billionaire’s wedding to journalist Sanchez against a backdrop of protests against the multi-day event.
The massive celebrations throughout the Italian city reportedly include a pajama party, a Great Gatsby-themed bash, and other lavish events.
Dozens of stars arrived in the city on Thursday, including Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, the Kardashians, and Usher.
Bloom, known for his role in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, was seen waving to fans as he left Venice’s Gritti Palace Hotel.
He was quickly followed by TV presenter Oprah Winfrey.
Oscar-winner Leonardo DiCaprio was seen hiding his face behind a baseball cap, boarding a water taxi with a full tuxedo and his signature LA dodgers cap.
The wedding saw around 250 VIPs fly into the World Heritage city, as 95 private jets were expected to land in Venice, and many hotels and water taxis booked out for the multi-day party.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Bezos, 61, and Sanchez, 55, had already been legally married for weeks ahead of the ceremony.
Before the festivities began, the couple hosted a foam party on Bezos’s $500 million (£371 million) superyacht moored in the city - the same yacht on which he asked Ms Sanchez to marry him two years ago.
Kim Kardashian, her sister Khloe and her mum Kris were also seen arriving at the event via a water taxi.
While businesses including hotels and water taxi operators relish in the millions of euros that are likely to be spent during the celebrations, others have been protesting what Italian media has called “the wedding of the century.”
Venice Residents, environmental charities and anti-tourism groups have came out in force to protest the extravagant showing.
The world’s third richest man was reportedly forced to change one of the venues of his wedding as protests against it intensified, with protesters threatening to fill the city’s famous canals with inflatable crocodiles to block guests from arriving.
About a dozen Venetian organisations - including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groups - have united to protest over the multi-day event under the banner "No Space for Bezos", a play on words also referring to the bride’s recent space flight.
Kris Jenner is sighted ahead of the Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez Wedding at Hotel Gritti. Picture: Getty
They have staged small-scale protests, unfurling anti-Bezos banners on famous Venetian sites.
They were joined this week by Greenpeace and the British group Everyone Hates Elon, which has smashed Teslas to protest against Elon Musk, to unfurl a giant banner in St Mark’s Square protesting over purported tax breaks for billionaires.
"If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax," read the banner, which featured a huge image of Mr Bezos.
Activists of international environmental group Greenpeace deploy a giant banner displaying a picture of Jeff Bezos and reading "If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax" at St Mark square in Venice on June 23. Picture: Getty
Police quickly took it away.
There has been no comment from Mr Bezos’s representatives on the protests.
The local activists had planned a more organised protest for Saturday, aiming to obstruct access to canals with boats to prevent guests from reaching a wedding venue.
Then they modified the protest to a march from the train station after claiming a victory, asserting that their pressure forced organisers to change the venue to the Arsenale, a more easily secured site beyond Venice’s congested centre.
"It will be a strong, decisive protest, but peaceful," said Federica Toninello, an activist with the Social Housing Assembly network.
"We want it to be like a party, with music, to make clear what we want our Venice to look like."
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