With Lauren Sanchez and husband-to-be Jeff Bezos firmly planted in Venice, and VIP guests arriving thick and fast, celebrations surrounding the couple’s highly anticipated wedding can commence.

The three-day affair is expected to take place from Thursday to Saturday when some 200 guests will join the billionaire Amazon founder and the former journalist in celebrating their marriage after a two-year engagement.

Spotted leaving the five-star Aman hotel on Wednesday by luxury water taxi, Sanchez opted for a vintage Alexander McQueen one-shoulder gown for one of her first appearances in the city.

Celebrities incoming

Ivanka Trump, alongside husband Jared Kushner and their children, was photographed arriving on Wednesday and Kim Kardashian was pictured arriving on Thursday with her sister Khloe and mother Kris Jenner. Oprah Winfrey and former NFL quarterback Tom Brady were also among VIPs boarding water taxis at the airport.

Celebrities spotted arriving in Venice ahead of the wedding. Reuters

Lauren Sanchez seen leaving the Aman hotel in vintage Alexander McQueen as she embarks on a multi-day luxury fashion showcase. Yara Nardi/Reuters

A shape-shifting schedule

With the threat of disruptive protests ever-present, the venues and plans may be kept fluid, but official events are expected to kick off Thursday night at the medieval Madonna dell’Orto cloister, according to Reuters. A traffic ordinance from Venice City Hall appears to back that up, with pedestrian foot traffic barred around the 14th-century cathedral, which hosts a number of artworks from the famed Venetian painter Tintoretto, from late afternoon until midnight.

Venice’s famed waterways and winding streets have hosted an array of high-profile weddings including François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek-Pinault in 2009, George and Amal Clooney in 2014, and Alexandre Arnault and Géraldine Guyot in 2021. But protestors associated with the group No Space for Bezos have already shifted the impending wedding plans, with their threat of canal blockades moving one of the weekend’s events from a grand, centrally located space to a former shipyard on Venice’s perimeter, according to the group.

US reality TV personality Kim Kardashian boards a taxi boat wearing Balenciaga at Venice Marco Polo airport ahead of Jeff Bezos’ wedding on Thursday, June 26. Andrea Pattaro/AFP/Getty Images Khloe Kardashian walks to board a taxi boat dressed in a Skims x Dolce & Gabbana catsuit at Venice Marco Polo airport ahead of Jeff Bezos’ wedding on Thursday. Andrea Pattaro/AFP/Getty Images Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady arrives for the weekend wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez on Thursday. Luca Bruno/AP US talk show host Oprah Winfrey prepares to board a taxi boat at Venice Marco Polo airport ahead of Jeff Bezos’ wedding on Thursday. Andrea Pattaro/AFP/Getty Images Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos arrive by boat at a hotel in Venice, Italy, on Wednesday, June 25, ahead of their reported wedding festivities. Luca Bruno/AP Sanchez and Bezos depart the Aman Venice hotel on Wednesday. Bezos’ bride-to-be was photographed in a vintage Spring-Summer 2003 off-the-shoulder McQueen dress. Yara Nardi/Reuters A nun walks past the Madonna dell’Orto church in Venice on Wednesday. Yara Nardi/Reuters Bezos waves as he leaves a Venice hotel by boat on Wednesday. Luca Bruno/AP The domes of Venice’s St. Mark’s Basilica are silhouetted in the early morning on Wednesday. Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images People look at a super yacht in Venice on Tuesday, June 24. Multimillion-dollar super yachts have been arriving in the city. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters Ivanka Trump and her husband, Jared Kushner, exit the airport before getting into a water taxi in Venice on Tuesday. Yara Nardi/Reuters Activists of the international environmental group Greenpeace deploy a giant banner at St. Mark Square in Venice on Monday, June 23. It reads, “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more tax.” Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images A woman looks out of a window in Venice on Sunday, June 22. Yara Nardi/Reuters Much of the wedding plans are shrouded in secrecy, but one of the most talked-about possible venues is the Cini Foundation on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Matteo Chinellato/IPA/Sipa USA Protesters display a banner reading “No space for Bezos!” on the Rialto Bridge in Venice on June 13. Manuel Silvestri/Reuters Lauren Sanchez’s bachelorette party included a cruise on the Seine in Paris, with Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry and Eva Longoria joining the festivities on May 16. DKPAR/KCS Presse/MEGA In pictures: Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos’ Venetian wedding Prev Next

The complex wedding is being orchestrated by Lanza and Baucina — the planners who similarly oversaw the Clooneys’ star-studded Venetian union — who told CNN that their clients’ instructions have been to minimize “any disruption to the city,” while insisting they using an overwhelming number of local suppliers to help craft the event.

The couple is sourcing some 80% of wedding provisions from local vendors, including pastries from the Rosa Salva pastry shop, the oldest in Venice, and gifts from Murano glassware designer Laguna B.

Around 30 of the city’s elite water taxis, out of 280 total, are also thought to be reserved. One taxi driver told CNN he has been booked from June 25 through June 30 for “a big wedding,” but declined to say more on the subject. Gondolas have also been put on hold, with the city’s gondola association confirming they are ready for the event.

Details of Sanchez’s wedding gown will no doubt be one of the event’s most closely guarded secrets. Luxury Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana is the strongest contender, with Oscar de la Renta also being floated as a brand she may turn to for one of her many looks this week.