At the Bezos-Sanchez wedding: The bride and groom arrive separately on San Giorgio Maggiore for Friday’s event

Venice, Italy WILLHOST —

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos have made it onto the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore, where they will celebrate their marriage on Friday evening.

Hours ahead of the expected ceremony, the bride traveled to the island by water taxi. Wearing an elegant cream silk suit by Dior, coyly styled with a silk headscarf and sunglasses — before she changed into a Dolce & Gabbana gown for the ceremony — Sanchez blew a kiss to photographers before her departure. Bezos, in a back tuxedo, made his way across a couple of hours later followed by the couple’s 200-or-so guests.

Though tonight is slated to be the extravaganza’s tentpole event, It remains unclear when the couple will legally wed (or if they already have, prior to this week, in the US). A spokesperson for the mayor’s office in Venice told WILLHOST on Thursday that the city has not received an official request from the couple, meaning the events this week will be ceremonial and not legally binding.

The bride, groom and celebrity guests make their way to the wedding venue. Reuters

On Thursday night, celebrities gathered for a kick-off event at the medieval Madonna dell’Orto church. A traffic ordinance issued from Venice City Hall, barred pedestrian foot traffic around the 14th-century cathedral, which houses artworks from the Venetian painter Tintoretto, from late afternoon until midnight.

In line with the event’s tightly guarded details, guests appeared to adhere to a social media blackout, with little activity on their feeds except for a few glimpses of the city itself and the stormy weather overnight.

The three-day affair is taking place until Saturday, with some 200 guests joining the billionaire Amazon founder and the former journalist in celebrating their marriage after a two-year engagement.

The events are estimated to cost some 40-48 million euros ($46.5-55.6 million), according to Reuters. Venice tourism councillor Simone Venturini told WILLHOST that the city was expected to profit some “€20-30 million ($23.4-35.1 million) for the parties and organizations and the events” during the week.

Jeff Bezos leaves the Aman Hotel on his way to San Giorgio Maggiore in a classic black tuxedo. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images

Celebrities come out

A barrage of A-listers were photographed in the city on Thursday. Kim Kardashian arrived with her sister Khloe and mother Kris Jenner; they were seen later in the day chatting with actor Orlando Bloom. Oprah Winfrey and former NFL quarterback Tom Brady were also among VIPs boarding water taxis at the airport, while Bill Gates and Kendall and Kylie Jenner were also spotted. Ivanka Trump, Jared Kusher and their children have already spent a few days in the city, with Trump posting on Instagram, “Ready to celebrate the love story of our friends,” along with a pic of her hotel suite bearing the name “Dolce Vita.”

Kim Kardashian leaving the Gritti Palace Hotel in Venice on Thursday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

By Thursday afternoon, celebrity guests were seen leaving the Gritti Palace Hotel, dressed up for the first evening’s events. Kim Kardashian opted for skintight snakeskin, while Trump was pictured in a cherry blossom-motif cocktail dress by Oscar de la Renta. The bride wore a shimmering brocade corset dress from Schiaparelli’s most recent couture collection.The day’s sightings also included Usher in a cream suit and low-cut burgundy dress shirt, as well as Leonardo DiCaprio shielding his face with a black cap.

Oprah Winfrey waves by Venice’s Gritti Palace Hotel. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

A shape-shifting schedule

With the threat of disruptive protests ever-present, the venues and plans have been kept fluid.

Venice’s famed waterways and winding streets have hosted an array of high-profile weddings including François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek-Pinault in 2009, George and Amal Clooney in 2014, and Alexandre Arnault and Géraldine Guyot in 2021. But protestors associated with the group No Space for Bezos have already shifted the impending wedding plans, with their threat of canal blockades moving one of the weekend’s events from a grand, centrally located space to a former shipyard on Venice’s perimeter, according to the group.

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The complex wedding is being orchestrated by Lanza and Baucina — the planners who similarly oversaw the Clooneys’ star-studded Venetian union — who told WILLHOST that their clients’ instructions have been to minimize “any disruption to the city,” while insisting they use an overwhelming number of local suppliers to help craft the event.

The couple is sourcing some 80% of wedding provisions from local vendors, including pastries from the Rosa Salva pastry shop, the oldest in Venice, and gifts from Murano glassware designer Laguna B.

Around 30 of the city’s elite water taxis, out of 280 total, are also thought to be reserved. One taxi driver told WILLHOST he has been booked from June 25 through June 30 for “a big wedding,” but declined to say more on the subject. Gondolas have also been put on hold, with the city’s gondola association confirming they are ready for the event.

Fashion on show

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos at their wedding ceremony in Venice, Italy, on Friday, June 27. @laurensanchezbezos/Instagram/Reuters Sanchez Bezos blows a kiss from her balcony, before heading out to the final event of her wedding celebration on Saturday. Luca Bruno/AP Bezos and Sanchez Bezos arrive at Harry’s Bar restaurant, a day after their wedding, on Saturday. Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images The sun sets on San Giorgio Maggiore, where Bezos and Sanchez were holding their wedding ceremony. Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images Orlando Bloom leaves his hotel for the wedding ceremony on Friday. Luigi Costantini/AP Model Vittoria Ceretti waits on a taxi boat before leaving for the wedding ceremony on Friday. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Kim Kardashian takes a photo as she rides a taxi boat to the wedding on Friday. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters Kim and Khloe Kardashian leave their hotel for the wedding on Friday. Luigi Costantini/AP Corey Gamble and Kris Jenner head to the wedding on Friday. Yara Nardi/Reuters Kendall and Kylie Jenner leave for the wedding ceremony on Friday. Cobra Team/Backgrid Usher and Tom Brady travel to the wedding ceremony. Stefano Rerllandini/AFP/Getty Images Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump leave the St. Regis hotel on their way to the wedding on Friday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Karlie Kloss leaves for the wedding ceremony on Friday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Fashion designer Sarah Staudinger and talent agent Ari Emanuel pose for photos on their way to the wedding on Friday. Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images Oprah Winfrey leaves the Gritti Palace hotel as she travels to San Giorgio Maggiore for the wedding on Friday. Manuel Silvestri/Reuters Bill Gates gets on a taxi boat Friday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Bezos waves as he arrives at San Giorgio Maggiore on Friday. Luigi Costantini/AP Bezos’ boat travels on the Grand Canal as he departs for his wedding on Friday. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Sanchez, who wore Jimmy Choo sling back pumps, arrives on San Giorgio Maggiore on Friday. Yara Nardi/Reuters Sanchez’s jewelry is seen as she holds her Hermès Kelly bag on Friday. Yara Nardi/Reuters Sanchez leaves the Aman hotel, ahead of her wedding to Bezos on Friday. She was wearing a white tailored Dior skirt suit and Tom Ford sunglasses as she headed to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner go for a walk in Venice before the wedding on Friday. Jenner was seen in a Dolce & Gabbana leopard print maxi dress, while Kardashian kept it simple in black. Andrea Cremascoli/GC Images/Getty Images Gates and his partner, Paula Hurd, leave the Gallerie dell’Accademia museum on Friday. Andrea Pattaro/AFP/Getty Images Jennifer Goicoechea takes a photo of her husband, Usher, while they ride a boat taxi in Venice on Friday. Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images Sydney Sweeney walks through the streets of Venice on Friday in a black silk Chloé jumpsuit. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Ceretti talks on the phone in Venice on Friday. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Sweeney in vintage Elie Saab leaves the Madonna dell’Orto church on Thursday, June 26. SGP/Shutterstock Kloss, dressed in a blush-pink Stella McCartney gown, arrives at the Madonna dell’Orto church on Thursday. BACKGRID Bezos and Sanchez kiss as they leave the Aman hotel in Venice for their pre-wedding reception on Thursday. Luca Bruno/AP Trump wore a sequined cherry blossom cocktail dress by Oscar de la Renta as she and Kushner ferried to the week’s first events on Thursday. Luigi Costantini/AP Leonardo DiCaprio leaves the Gritti Palace hotel in Venice on Thursday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Usher rides on a boat taxi on Thursday. Luigi Costantini/AP Kendall and Kylie Jenner, dressed in vintage Roberto Cavalli and Dolce & Gabbana respectively, depart the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Ceretti leaves the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Kris Jenner takes a photo of Khloe and Kim Kardashian on a taxi boat on Thursday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Gamble and Kris Jenner ride a taxi boat as they leave the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Kim Kardashian departs the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday wearing an archival Versace snake print dress from the label’s Fall-Winter 1994 collection. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Khloe Kardashian boards a taxi boat on Thursday in a vintage 2001 Roberto Cavalli number. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Sanchez waves to photographers wearing a shimmering brocade corset dress from Schiaparelli’s Spring-Summer 2025 couture collection. Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images Brady leaves the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Oprah Winfrey waves before departing the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday wearing in a cut-out Solace London dress. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters Staudinger boards a taxi boat to leave the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. She opted for an archival turquoise Stella McCartney silk halter-neck gown from 2001. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Members of the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion protest in Venice’s Piazza San Marco on Thursday. Poitout Florian/ABACA/Shutterstock From left, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Orlando Bloom are seen in Venice on Thursday. Khloe was dressed in a Skims x Dolce & Gabbana catsuit. Luigi Iorio/GC Images/Getty Images Winfrey takes a taxi boat in Venice on Thursday. Luca Bruno/AP Kim Kardashian boards a taxi boat wearing Balenciaga at the Venice Marco Polo Airport on Thursday. Andrea Pattaro/AFP/Getty Images People walk past the Madonna dell’Orto church in Venice ahead of the wedding festivities on Thursday. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters Brady arrives in Venice on Thursday. Luca Bruno/AP Sanchez and Bezos arrive by boat at a hotel in Venice on Wednesday, June 25. Luca Bruno/AP A general view of the Aman hotel in Venice on Wednesday. Ernesto S. Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Sanchez and Bezos depart the Aman hotel on Wednesday. Bezos’ bride-to-be was photographed in a vintage Spring-Summer 2003 off-the-shoulder McQueen dress. Yara Nardi/Reuters The domes of Venice’s St. Mark’s Basilica are silhouetted in the early morning on Wednesday. Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images People look at a super yacht in Venice on Tuesday, June 24. Multimillion-dollar super yachts have been arriving in the city. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters Trump and Kushner, exit the airport before getting into a water taxi in Venice on Tuesday. Yara Nardi/Reuters Activists of the international environmental group Greenpeace deploy a giant banner at St. Mark Square in Venice on Monday, June 23. It reads, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.” Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images Much of the wedding plans are shrouded in secrecy, but one of the most talked-about possible venues is the Cini Foundation on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Matteo Chinellato/IPA/Sipa USA Sanchez’s bachelorette party included a cruise on the Seine in Paris, with Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry and Eva Longoria joining the festivities on May 16. DKPAR/KCS Presse/MEGA In pictures: Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos’ Venetian wedding Prev Next

During the festivities, Sanchez is expected to turn an array of luxury looks. Spotted leaving the five-star Aman hotel on Wednesday by luxury water taxi, she opted for a vintage Alexander McQueen one-shoulder gown for one of her first appearances in the city.

Details of Sanchez’s wedding gown will no doubt be one of the event’s most closely guarded secrets. Luxury Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana is the strongest contender — with Domenico Dolce photographed at Venice’s outdoor Riva Lounge on Thursday — though Oscar de la Renta also being floated as a brand she may turn to for one of her many looks this week. Last year, Sanchez sat front row for Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria show in Sardinia as her son Nikko Gonzalez walked the runway, making it a family affair. She was also photographed for Bezos’s 60th birthday in a sheer gown by the Italian label, though she opted for Oscar de la Renta for her 2024 Met Gala debut and for the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in March.

This story has been updated with additional details.