A dream wedding for Jeff Bezos in Venice? No way, locals say

Venice: If a bunch of irate Venetians have their way, the star-studded dream wedding that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancee, Lauren Sánchez, are planning in the ancient city at the end of June could be a nightmare.

On Friday evening, representatives of various citizens groups gathered in a square near Rialto Bridge and vowed to organize a series of protests June 26-28, when hundreds of guests are expected to descend on the lagoon city for the lavish nuptials of Bezos and Sánchez, a journalist.

Although details of the festivities have been wrapped in secrecy, "we have our moles," said Federica Toninello, a protest organizer, revealing that one of the venues could be the Misericordia, a former charity-turned-events hall. "Bezos will never get to the Misericordia," she vowed, urging the roughly 300 people present to take a stand. "We will line the streets with our bodies, block the canals with lifesavers, dinghies and our boats," she said to loud applause.

She spoke under a large banner that read, "No Space [an image of a spaceship] for Bezos," playing on his ownership of Blue Origin, a spaceflight venture. "We have to block Bezos; we have to block this idea of this city" as a tourist haven that has driven up housing costs so that most ordinary Venetians can no longer afford to live here, she said.

Representatives for Bezos and Sánchez did not respond to a request for comment.

Their wedding coincides with peak season in Venice, as tens of thousands of visitors arrive in the city daily, prompting City Hall to impose a controversial entry fee on weekends and holidays. Protesters said they were also concerned that the logistics of the wedding, including security for some top-tier guests, will further disrupt the life of Venice's dwindling resident population.

The guest list is not public, but Vogue reported that it could include Katy Perry, some of the Kardashians and Eva Longoria, all friends of the bride-to-be. And TMZ reported that Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King had been invited.

Reported estimates of what the wedding might cost have been as high as $21.5 million. Part of that cost involves taking a fleet of water taxis out of circulation.

One taxi driver who will be involved in transporting guests for the wedding said he had been booked to be on call June 25-30.

City hall officials said that only 30 of the city's 280 water taxis had been booked, and that since Venice was accustomed to hosting major events, citizens would not be inconvenienced. More than 600 couples marry each year in Venice, "recognized as a city of love on an international level," and this was just one wedding more, the statement said.

Some Venetians think it's one wedding too many. On Thursday, activists unfurled a large banner with a bold red X over Bezos' name from the steeple of the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, on an island that will be another of the Bezos-Sánchez wedding venues.

"Let's make sure that Venice is not remembered as a postcard venue where Bezos had his wedding, but as the city that did not bend to oligarchs," said Na Haby Stella Faye, another protester. "We have a chance to disrupt a $10 million wedding; let's do it."