Bezos-Sanchez wedding invite leaked

WILLHOST —

There is much to unpack with the portion of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding invitation that was leaked to the world. The explicit request for no gifts — the only option, really, for the one of the world’s richest individuals; along with the donation pledge to UNESCO’s Venice office, the Corila research program into the Venice lagoon, and Venice International University — a declaration of care for a city whose inhabitants are protesting the couple’s very presence. But perhaps the most surprising element of all is the invitation’s design.

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

Printed in a wistful italic font and decorated haphazardly with doves, shooting stars, butterflies and the Rialto Bridge, the invitation appears homemade, but not in an artisanal sense. (The illustrations, which include two gondolas, have been compared with those available in Microsoft Word’s generic image library). Instead, Bezos and Sanchez’s invitation looks like a bit of an afterthought — which, considering the number of guests, the ongoing threat of protesters, which has already resulted in a last-minute venue change, and increasing media attention, may well be the case.

Many took to social media to express their disappointment, criticizing the invitation for falling flat — expectations that have been largely set by assumptions of a billionaire’s wedding budget. The decision makes more sense, however, when you consider the dressed-down approach typically associated with tech bros in this class bracket. Bezos himself is often found in jeans, polo shirts and sneakers — though for this occasion he is sure to shape up — and, according to a Wired profile from 1999, he once wore shirts with “hidden snaps under the collar for easy tie removal.” Speed over style and efficiency over glamor. Old habits die hard.

A portion of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding invite was leaked this week, and it has been criticized for its lack of design prowess. From GMA

But invitations are more than just carriers of logistical details. For major events, they are the first glimpse of what attendees can expect from the day.

For King Charles and Queen Camila’s coronation in 2023, British artist Andrew Jamieson hand-painted an intricate, garden-themed border in watercolor and gouache complete with folklore motifs and coats of arms of the Monarch. The design was then reproduced and printed over 2,000 times on recycled card with gold foil detailing. Similarly, Harry and Meghan, Duke and Duchess of Sussex, had each of their wedding invitations in 2018 printed using a machine from the 1930s. The pair even went as far as using American ink on English card to symbolize their transatlantic unity.

Fashion designers, too, have long harnessed the power of a memorable invite as important extensions of their world-building efforts. On Friday, while high-profile guests step out to celebrate the Bezos wedding (scheduled to run June 26-28), a fashionable set of attendees will gather in Paris for another hotly-anticipated event: The debut of a new chief designer at Dior. Jonathan Anderson — a certified hype-generator and master of storytelling on the runway — also distributed his official invitations this week. Guests received porcelain plates with a trio of baby pink eggs glued to the surface and “Dior” printed on the underside. Like all good teasers, the invitation poses more questions than it answers, but it also sets the tone for what’s to come on the catwalk. Expect subversion, something a little weird, traditional craft turned cerebral.

Jonathan Anderson’s Dior invite was also distributed to guests this week. From Loïc Prigent/Instagram

Anderson, of course, is not the first designer to capitalize on an operational necessity in this way. In 2023, Alaïa sent attendees a collapsible stool, which they were instructed to carry to the show location. The year before, Balenciaga posted out “genuine artifacts from the year 2022”: iPhone 6Ss, each engraved with the guest’s name and show details — often cracked or smashed. More recently, Gucci produced a special edition of the classic “Timor” calendar from Italian designer Enzo Mari and sent it to guests for its Milan Fashion Week show.

Bezos and Sanchez arrive in Venice before wedding 00:19 – Source: RTL Germany Bezos and Sanchez arrive in Venice before wedding RTL Germany 00:19

Some designers, however, still prefer the ephemeral. Jacquemus, for example, hand-wrote its invites in 2018, and wrapped them in a cotton towel along with a loaf of freshly baked bread.

For sentimental souls, any invitation is a memento of the day — but great invites, such as those designed by luxury fashion houses, can become prized possessions. (Or be sold on eBay for thousands).

With Anderson’s Dior debut and the Amazon founder’s nuptials overlapping, anyone who found themselves double booked (Kim Kardashian, Anna Wintor, perhaps?) faced a tough decision. Perhaps, the invitation was the clincher.