Here’s something you can’t get with next-day delivery: a lavish Venetian wedding.
Amazon (AMZN) founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancee, media personality Lauren Sánchez, are getting married in the Italian city in an extravaganza that will run from June 24-26, Venetian officials confirmed over the weekend.
Bezos’ $500 million megayacht, Koru, is expected to play some role — although reports vary on whether it will host the wedding or ferry people across the city during the festivities. Venice has regulations on larger boats, which would prevent the Amazon founder’s yacht from being in the scenic waterways near some of the more beautiful, romantic parts of the city.
Per The Daily Mail, two of Venice’s most luxurious hotels, the Gritti Palace and Aman Venice, have been booked up around the wedding dates; the hotels’ rooms start around $3,200 and rise depending on the room and the season.
Sources told Italian media that Venice is a significant choice for the couple because of the city’s importance in the couple’s relationship: “Choosing Venice is more than a romantic gesture — it’s a nod to the couple’s shared history with the city, which they’ve frequently visited during their relationship… the wedding is poised to be a defining social event of 2025, not only for the couple but for Venice itself.”
Bezos proposed to his broadcaster fiancee on his megayacht with a 30-carat, cushion-cut $2.5 million diamond engagement ring so huge that Sánchez told Vogue she “kind of blacked out” when she saw it.
Sánchez has talked about how, “like every other bride,” she has a Pinterest (PINS) account. Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour has reportedly taken the bride-to-be under her wing to find a wedding dress, which some suggest is being designed by the brand Oscar de la Renta, although the couple was recently seen exiting Dolce and Gabbana, fueling speculation that the Italian designers could be involved in the celebration’s outfits.
Venetian officials have told people not to worry about potential disruptions as a result of the wedding, with the mayor’s office issuing a statement that only 200 guests have been invited — which reportedly include Oprah Winfrey, the extended Trump family, Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry, members of the Kardashian family, Eva Longoria, Barbra Streisand, Queen Rania of Jordan, and Leonardo DiCaprio.
“Our city has much experience in international events much larger than this,” Mayor Luigi Brugnaro said. “The [organizers] have categorically not booked large amounts of gondolas or excessive numbers of water taxis, and it is their utmost priority to make sure the city functions as normal, for all.”
Venice is no stranger to playing host to extravagant weddings. Actor George Clooney and human rights lawyer Amal Clooney picked the Italian city for their big day because, Clooney said, “It’s the most romantic city in the world.” They married at the city’s Aman Venice luxury hotel in 2014 (for a rumored $4.6 million), and the couple’s 100 guests cruised through the Venetian canals. Billionaire François-Henri Pinault and actress Salma Hayek also tied the knot in the city, in a 2009 ceremony at the famous Venice opera house Teatro La Fenice that cost a reported $3.5 million.
So what do you get as a wedding present for the world’s second-richest man, worth over $200 billion? Sánchez’s brother Paul told TMZ that he thinks the couple is requesting that guests make charitable donations. He had a big prediction for the scale and impact: “I think it’s going to be a Princess Di-like thing,” he said. “We don’t have many details yet, but it’s gonna be star-studded and fun.”
How will the Bezos-Sanchez affair stack up against some of the other most extravagant weddings of all time? Scroll through to find out.
This union might not have had a happy ending, but it’s still regarded as the gold standard for weddings — it’s been called “the wedding of the century,” after all. Over 750 million people watched live on TV as Lady Diana Spencer walked down the aisle at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981; 3,500 guests were invited to the affair, and two million spectators lined the princess’ processional route. The wedding cost a reported $48 million (about $166 million today), with a large chunk of that spent on security. Diana’s hand-embroidered ivory silk taffeta dress, which would cost around $500,000 today, famously featured 10,000 pearls and had a 25-foot-long train. Fireworks lit up Hyde Park, and 100 beacons were lit up across the country in honor of the couple’s big day. And no guests had to worry about not getting a slice of cake: 27 cakes were presented to the couple.
When the children of a multibillionaire and two millionaires get hitched, it turns out that the wedding comes with a hefty price tag: over $600 million. Mukesh Ambani, who is worth $95 billion, helped foot the bill when his younger son, Anant, and Radhika Merchant married in 2024. The couple’s wedding celebrations took place over seven months (an engagement ceremony, a weeklong engagement party, a 1,200-person cruise on the Mediterranean, a sangeet, and a three-day wedding in Mumbai) and featured performances from Katy Perry, Pitbull, Andrea Bocelli, The Backstreet Boys, and Justin Bieber, among others. The pièce de résistance? The couple convinced Rihanna to come out of a performance hiatus (for a rumored $6.3 million) for the pre-wedding festivities — she performed 19 songs, including one quite fitting for the big day: “Diamonds.”
Anant Ambani’s sister, Isha, also makes an appearance on this list; the heiress’ 2018 wedding to Anand Piramal cost over $100 million. Guests were sent pink-lace-adorned and gold-encrusted invitations that came in a Dolce & Gabbana box with detachable chains that could be worn as jewelry. The family’s famed 27-floor residence, Antilia, in Mumbai, was decked with thousands of fresh blooms, while marigolds transformed the street leading up to the venue. For her final look, Isha wore a 16-panel lehenga-choli that reportedly cost $12 million. There were plenty of pre-wedding events for this nuptial, too — an event in Udaipur, India, played host to over 2,000 people (including former secretaries of state Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, who danced to bhangra) and featured a 45-minute Beyoncé concert.
It’s hard to find photos of the reported $1 billion wedding of oil heir Said Gutseriev (whose father, Mikhail, is worth $5.8 billion) and Khadija Uzhakhova, but it doesn’t sound like their big day will be topped any time soon. Guests were transported to the venue, the Safisa restaurant in Moscow, in a fleet of Bentleys, fresh flowers reportedly dripped from every inch of the space, the bride wore a 28-pound beaded custom Elie Saab dress accessorized with a diamond necklace and tiara, the couple cut into a nine-foot-tall wedding cake, and guests were given jewel boxes as wedding favors and watched an ornate fireworks display. Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, and Sting all performed throughout the evening.
Chinese model, actress, and singer Angelababy, born Angela Yeung, has been dubbed the “Kim Kardashian of China,” and her wedding fit that label: Angelababy’s 2015 wedding to actor/singer Huang Xiaoming cost a reported $31 million. (Kardashian’s wedding to Kanye West cost around $12 million.) Over 2,000 guests joined the couple at the Shanghai Exhibition Center, while fans were encouraged to watch the event’s livestream. Inside, a holograph of a castle was displayed, and guests could gawk at the 10-foot-tall, carousel-shaped wedding cake that reportedly took a month to make. Attendees left with a bagful of gifts, including a cellphone. The bride wore a custom Christian Dior (LVMUY) wedding dress that took almost five months to make; it was crafted from 115 feet of ivory satin organza and 165 feet of tulle, adorned with 100 roses made from Chantilly lace, featured seven layers of skirts, and had a 10-foot-long train. Alas, the couple split in 2022.
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