Billboard Women in Music 2025
Jeff Bezos is making headlines in Italy, where the Amazon founder and executive chair plans to marry Emmy-winning journalist, pilot and entrepreneur Lauren Sánchez this summer.
Bezos and Sánchez were spotted in Venice on Tuesday making preparations for the three-day celebration that Luca Zuin, a spokesperson for the mayor of Venice, has said will run June 24-26.
According to press reports, the wedding may take place on Bezos’ $500-million super yacht anchored in the Venice lagoon, though other options are being explored. The couple also dined with Diane von Furstenberg on Tuesday, according to Venice daily La Nuova Venezia.
Italian media have been in a frenzy over the Bezos-Sánchez wedding, with several outlets reporting that the couple has fully booked five hotels and Venice’s fleet of water taxis.
After Italy’s leading daily Corriere della Sera complained in an editorial that Bezos would “seize Venice in its entirely: taxis, gondolas, hotels,” calling this an “annoying imbalance,” Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro issued a statement trying to tone down the controversy.
“The many speculations and fake news circulating about Jeff Bezos’ wedding are completely unfounded,” the mayor said, adding that the city is working with the wedding’s organizers.
Brugnaro clarified that roughly 200 guests will be attending the ceremony, noting that Venice in the past has hosted international events “with much greater impact than this one,” citing, among others, the Venice Film Festival.
Meanwhile, the rumor mill is spinning on who is going to be on the event’s guest list with Eva Longoria, Katy Perry, “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King, Orlando Bloom, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey, Barbara Streisand, Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian among Hollywood names being bandied around.
As previously announced, Sánchez, Perry and King are set to embark on an all-women flight into space on April 14, a mission organized by Sánchez with Bezos’ aerospace company Blue Origin. The mission’s crew also includes Bahamian-American aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe, civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.
