While George Clooney is still on my shortlist for People I Never Want To See Again, I have to admit that his Venice wedding to Amal in 2014 really was one of the most unexpectedly glamorous weddings in recent times. The Clooneys and their wedding party went everywhere by gondola and boat, they happily acknowledged the paparazzi, and we got so many great photos of everything around their wedding. Well, I imagine it will be a lot different more than a decade later when Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding takes place in Venice this summer. Reportedly, they’re bringing in tons of celebrities and they’ll probably spend millions of dollars (if not tens of millions) on security and image-control. There were already a lot of concerns that the Bezos-Sanchez wedding would “sink” Venice or harm the fragile, watery city. Well, the mayor of Venice has spoken out about the wedding.

It’ll take more than penny-pinching spaceman Jeff Bezos to sink the ancient city of Venice, it appears. The Donald Trump-backing owner of the Washington Post, who founded online retailer Amazon in 1994, is planning a reportedly over-the-top wedding to his fiancee, former journalist Lauren Sánchez, in the historic floating metropolis, which has faced increasing scrutiny as a region of environmental peril since massive floods hit it in 2019. But according to a statement from Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, the City of Canals is ready to handle an influx of celebrities, staffers, and media for the couple’s walk down the aisle.

The city of Venice confirmed at least some of the wedding details on Saturday, in a statement reported on by the AP, among other outlets. “The many speculations and fake news circulating about Jeff Bezos’ wedding are completely unfounded,” the statement—attributed to Brugnaro—reads. “Venice is used to being the stage for events and shows every week, without significant impacts,” it said, noting that only 200 guests are expected for the Bezos/Sánchez nuptials.

According to CNN, mayoral spokesperson Luca Zuin says that the wedding weekend is set for June 24 to 26, and won’t actually be held in the city proper. Instead, the wedding is planned for Bezos’ $500-million superyacht, Koru, which will be anchored in the Venice lagoon, though guests might seek accommodations at one of the city’s many hotels during the days of the event.

The news that the big show will be on the ship is likely a relief to those in the United Nations heritage sites site protection branch UNESCO, which issued a 2023 report saying that over-tourism has put the area’s delicate infrastructure at risk. While not currently on the agency’s list of the world’s most gravely endangered sites, it remains under consideration. Officials and agencies “need the push now to act faster, bigger and do more,” said Union of Concerned Scientists deputy director Adam Markham in 2023. Otherwise, “Venice is going to really be strangled to death from climate change and tourism,” a situation that even the world’s second-richest man might not be able to reverse.

[From Vanity Fair]

LOL this makes it even funnier and more absurd? They’re going to make people fly into Italy, all to attend a wedding on Bezos’ tacky-ass superyacht? They’re just using Venice as a backdrop, they don’t even plan to host anything within Venice? Well, that’s one way to keep it secure, but they could drop anchor anywhere – why not the Spanish coast or the Côte d’Azur, some place a little less fragile? It’s interesting that the mayor of Venice is also confirming details about Bezos’ wedding too – my guess is that the wedding planner is working with the local government and the Italians are being assured that the Americans aren’t flying in to destroy Venice.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Cover Images.