By Nicole Winfield and Luca Bruno
Italy’s Venice (AP)Leading a star-studded guest list of celebrities who descended on the lagoon city for the weekend wedding of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, Oprah Winfrey arrived in Venice on Thursday.
Winfrey’s private jet touched down at the Marco Polo airport in Venice. Soon later, former American football player Tom Brady came.
The wedding’s specifics have been kept under wraps, but the guest list and the locations for the three days of parties and receptions—which include a cloister in the Cannaregio district, the island of San Giorgio, and the Arsenale district, which is best known for hosting the Biennale art fair—have solidified.
The extravagant event is expected to cost between 40 million and 48 million euros (US$46.7 million to $56 million), according to Veneto governor Luca Zaia. He told reporters this week that it will attract 90 private aircraft to the airports in Treviso and Venice, along with a celebrity quotient that would be worth more than five American Super Bowls in terms of visibility and promotion for Venice.
Here is a list of the attendees of the Bezos-Snchez wedding.
On Wednesday, the bride and groom arrived at the Aman Hotel dock on the Grand Canal in a water taxi accompanied by security boats. A few hours later, they snuck out of the hotel, Snchez in a stylish one-shoulder gown with stripes of black and white.
On Wednesday, Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner, and their three kids arrived.
According to two persons close to the wedding who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to speak in public, other celebrities on the guest list include:
- Kim Kardashian
- Mick Jagger
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Orlando Bloom
- Microsoft founder Bill Gates
- Diane von Furstenberg and her husband Barry Diller
Although Katy Perry was initially anticipated, the most recent information indicated that she would not be attending.
Venice has been split over the wedding; some campaigners have protested that the millionaire Bezos is exploiting the city while regular citizens face overtourism, exorbitant housing expenses, and the ongoing threat of flooding brought on by climate change.
On Thursday, a group known as Extinction Rebellion held a modest demonstration in St. Mark’s Square that included a bride and groom wearing masks and individuals holding placards criticizing wealth inequality and climate change.
As a reference to the bride’s purported wedding weekend attire, here is a list of Lauren Sanchez’s 27 outfits. Don’t worry, even though the globe is burning.
According to protesters, organizers had to relocate the wedding to the more secure Arsenale neighborhood outside of Venice’s crowded center because they intended to interfere with guests’ arrivals at one of the wedding locations.
The city government has vehemently defended the wedding, citing Venice’s centuries-old reputation as an open city that has hosted popes, emperors, and common tourists.
In Thursday’s issue of the Italian newspaper Il Foglio Quotidiano, Mayor Luigi Brugnaro stated, “We will always respect the right to speak out, but we reject every form of intolerance and prejudice.” Nobody in Venice has the authority to decide who is allowed to celebrate, who is allowed to love, or who can enter.
According to Corila, the Venetian environmental research association, Bezos gave one million euros each to three environmental research groups that are dedicated to protecting Venice.
Winfield came from Rome to report.
