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New Delhi:The world’s third-richest man, tech billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is all set to marry former journalist Lauren Sanchez on Friday in what is being described as a star-studded wedding.

The extravagant celebration, hosted in Venice, Italy, is expected to cost approximately Rs 430 crore, according to Luca Zaia, President of the Veneto region, which includes the iconic city of canals.The three-day affair, which began on June 26 and will end on June 28 with a celebrity-studded reception after the wedding on Friday, has turned Venice into a temporary fortress, with heightened security and restricted access to ensure privacy for the high-profile couple and their VIP guests.

Despite the organisers’ assurances that the event is being conducted with full respect for the local population and infrastructure, environmental activists and residents have voiced concerns.Many protestors argue that such an event, featuring 200 to 250 VIPs, only adds pressure to a city already burdened by over-tourism, with more than 30 million visitors annually.Star power has lit up the Venetian canals, with celebrities, politicians, royalty and other dignitaries arriving steadily throughout the week.

Recent sightings include Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, actor Orlando Bloom, and Queen Rania of Jordan.They join an already glittering list of attendees that reportedly includes Oprah Winfrey, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian, Kris Jenner, and Hollywood power couple Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who were spotted enjoying pre-wedding festivities in the city.

While the high-profile guest list has drawn admiration, the wedding invitation itself has attracted widespread ridicule online.A leaked image of the invite, accessed by ABC News, was slammed on social media for its design, with users calling it “tacky,” “ugly,” and a “graphic design disaster.

”Bezos, one of the world’s richest individuals with a net worth of $231 billion according to Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index, began dating Sanchez — a former news anchor. The couple got engaged in 2023.

Though Venice has played host to numerous celebrity weddings — including George Clooney and Amal Alamuddin in 2014 and Indian billionaires Vinita Agarwal and Muqit Teja in 2011 — none have stirred the kind of global attention or controversy that Bezos and Sanchez’s nuptials have garnered.As the celebrations reach their peak, Venice remains under the spotlight, balancing glamour, criticism, and the gaze of the world.

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Venice, Italy CNN —

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos’ highly anticipated wedding festivities are well underway.

On Thursday night, celebrities gathered for a kick-off event at the medieval Madonna dell’Orto cloister. A traffic ordinance issued from Venice City Hall, barred pedestrian foot traffic around the 14th-century cathedral, which houses artworks from the Venetian painter Tinoretto, from late afternoon until midnight.

In line with the event’s tightly guarded details, guests appeared to adhere to a social media blackout, with little activity on their feeds except for a few glimpses of the city itself and the stormy weather overnight.

Khloe Kardashian and Kris Jenner go for a walk in the city ahead the Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez wedding in Venice, Italy, on Friday, June 27. Andrea Cremascoli/GC Images/Getty Images Sydney Sweeney walks in Venice on Friday. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Vittoria Ceretti talks on the phone on Friday. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez kiss as they leave the Aman hotel in Venice, Italy, for their pre-wedding reception on Thursday, June 26. Luca Bruno/AP Ivanka Trump wore a sequined cherry blossom cocktail dress by Oscar de la Renta as she and husband, Jared Kushner, ferried to the week’s first events on Thursday. Luigi Costantini/AP Leonardo DiCaprio leaves the Gritti Palace hotel in Venice on Thursday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Usher rides on a boat taxi on Thursday. Luigi Costantini/AP Kendall and Kylie Jenner, dressed in vintage Roberto Cavalli and Dolce & Gabbana respectively, depart the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Model Vittoria Ceretti leaves the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Kris Jenner takes a photo of Khloe and Kim Kardashian on a taxi boat on Thursday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Corey Gamble and Kris Jenner ride a taxi boat as they leave the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. Ernesto Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Kim Kardashian departs the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday wearing an archival Versace snake print dress from the label’s Fall-Winter 1994 collection. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Khloe Kardashian boards a taxi boat on Thursday in a vintage 2001 Roberto Cavalli number. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Sanchez waves to photographers wearing a shimmering brocade corset dress from Schiaparelli’s Spring-Summer 2025 couture collection. Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images Tom Brady leaves the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Oprah Winfrey waves before departing the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday wearing in a cut-out Solace London dress. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters Fashion designer Sarah Staudinger boards a taxi boat to leave the Gritti Palace hotel on Thursday. She opted for an archival turquoise Stella McCartney silk halter-neck gown from 2001. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images Members of the climate activist group Extinction Rebellion protest in Venice’s Piazza San Marco on Thursday. Poitout Florian/ABACA/Shutterstock From left, Kim Kardashian, Khloe Kardashian and Orlando Bloom are seen in Venice on Thursday. Khloe was dressed in a Skims x Dolce & Gabbana catsuit. Luigi Iorio/GC Images/Getty Images Winfrey takes a taxi boat in Venice on Thursday. Luca Bruno/AP Kim Kardashian boards a taxi boat wearing Balenciaga at the Venice Marco Polo Airport on Thursday. Andrea Pattaro/AFP/Getty Images People walk past the Madonna dell’Orto church in Venice ahead of the wedding festivities on Thursday. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters Brady arrives in Venice on Thursday. Luca Bruno/AP Sanchez and Bezos arrive by boat at a hotel in Venice on Wednesday, June 25. Luca Bruno/AP A general view of the Aman hotel in Venice on Wednesday. Ernesto S. Ruscio/GC Images/Getty Images Sanchez and Bezos depart the Aman hotel on Wednesday. Bezos’ bride-to-be was photographed in a vintage Spring-Summer 2003 off-the-shoulder McQueen dress. Yara Nardi/Reuters 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 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 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 three-day affair is expected to take place from Thursday to Saturday, with some 200 guests joining the billionaire Amazon founder and the former journalist in celebrating their marriage after a two-year engagement.

The events are expected to cost some 40-48 million euros ($46.5-55.6 million), according to Reuters. Venice tourism councillor Simone Venturini told CNN that the city was expected to profit some “€20-30 million ($23.4-35.1 million) for the parties and organizations and the events” during the week.

The extravaganza’s tentpole event is expected tonight on the island of San Giorgio, according to Reuters. It remains unclear when the couple will legally wed (or if they already have, prior to this week, in the US). A spokesperson for the mayor’s office in Venice told CNN on Thursday that the city has not received an official request from the couple, meaning the events this week will be ceremonial and not legally binding.

Celebrities come out

Kendall and Kylie Jenner stepping onto a water taxi. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

A barrage of A-listers were photographed in the city on Thursday. Kim Kardashian arrived with her sister Khloe and mother Kris Jenner; they were seen later in the day chatting with actor Orlando Bloom. Oprah Winfrey and former NFL quarterback Tom Brady were also among VIPs boarding water taxis at the airport, while Bill Gates and Kendall and Kylie Jenner were also spotted. Ivanka Trump, Jared Kusher and their children have already spent a few days in the city, with Trump posting on Instagram, “Ready to celebrate the love story of our friends,” along with a pic of her hotel suite bearing the name “Dolce Vita.”

Oprah Winfrey waves by Venice’s Gritti Palace Hotel. Guglielmo Mangiapane/Reuters

By Thursday afternoon, celebrity guests were seen leaving the Gritti Palace Hotel, dressed up for the first evening’s events. Kim Kardashian opted for skintight snakeskin, while Trump was pictured in a cherry blossom-motif cocktail dress by Oscar de la Renta. The bride wore a shimmering brocade corset dress from Schiaparelli’s most recent couture collection.The day’s sightings also included Usher in a cream suit and low-cut burgundy dress shirt, as well as Leonardo DiCaprio shielding his face with a black cap.

Leonardo DiCaprio in a black cap exiting the Gritti Palace Hotel. Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images

A shape-shifting schedule

With the threat of disruptive protests ever-present, the venues and plans have been kept fluid.

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.

Video Ad Feedback Here’s what we know ahead of the Bezos-Sanchez wedding 01:28 – Source: CNN Here’s what we know ahead of the Bezos-Sanchez wedding 01:28

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 use 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.

Fashion on show

One of Sanchez’s first looks is Schiaparelli couture. Stefano Rellandini/AFP/Getty Images

During the festivities, Sanchez is expected to turn an array of luxury looks. Spotted leaving the five-star Aman hotel on Wednesday by luxury water taxi, she opted for a vintage Alexander McQueen one-shoulder gown for one of her first appearances in the city.

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 Domenico Dolce photographed at Venice’s outdoor Riva Lounge on Thursday — though Oscar de la Renta also being floated as a brand she may turn to for one of her many looks this week. Last year, Sanchez sat front row for Dolce & Gabbana’s Alta Sartoria show in Sardinia as her son Nikko Gonzalez walked the runway, making it a family affair. She was also photographed for Bezos’s 60th birthday in a sheer gown by the Italian label, though she opted for Oscar de la Renta for her 2024 Met Gala debut and for the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in March.

This story will continue to be updated.

CNN’s Sharon Braithwaite contributed to this report.

The city of Venice has been inundated with private jets flying in celebrities for the festivities. Dozens of multi-million dollar Gulfstream G650s and Bombardier Global 7500s have touched down at Marco Polo Airport.

Among the stars chartering their own jets are Kim Kardashian, Bill Gates, Queen Rania of Jordan, Tom Brady, Oprah Winfrey, Kylie Jenner, Diane von Furstenberg, and Rupert Murdoch’s son, James.

It’s been reported that more than 90 private jets will land in Venice for the celebrations

© GC Images Oprah was one of many who arrived by private jet

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