Jeff Bezos & Lauren Sanchez Not Scaling Down Wedding Enough To Sway Venice Locals

Jeff Bezos' plans to tie the knot to his longtime partner Lauren Sánchez may be in jeopardy!

The billionaire businessman and his fiancée are set to say their vows in Venice, hosting a three-day celebration for their family, friends, and high-profile guests. However, the locals don't want the couple or their pals making a racket in their city.

Although Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez have scaled down their plans for a more modest ceremony, the change did not stop residents from protesting.

According to new reports, locals in Venice have erected numerous posters rejecting Bezos and Sánchez's upcoming wedding ceremony in their city. These flyers captured residents' mounting displeasure with the tourist attention Venice gets and their fear of Bezos worsening the situation.

The locals did not stop at "No Space For Bezos" posters as they also launched a giant banner with a red X over the business mogul's name.

They hung this poster at the famous bell tower of Venice's San Giorgio Maggiore Church. A member of the anti-wedding campaign shed light on residents' disapproval of the extravagant ceremony.

Alice Bazzoli told TMZ that Venice locals were not attacking Bezos personally. Instead, they were protesting against the chaos his wedding would bring to their already overwhelmed tourist city. It remains to be seen if the demonstrations will affect the couple's upcoming ceremony.

As a billionaire, many expected Bezos to tie the knot in an over-the-top event. However, The Blast shared that he and Sánchez had opted to say their vows in a less extravagant ceremony, which one source described as "understated" and "not an ostentatious blowout."

The insider, a supposed guest at the upcoming event, claimed the couple changed their plans after the backlash they received for Blue Origin's all-female space expedition.

Sánchez, Katy Perry, Aisha Bowe, Amanda Nguyen, Kerianne Flynn, and Gayle King took an 11-minute flight to space on April 14, 2025. The expedition sparked media outrage for being ridiculously expensive and a waste of resources.

To redeem their image, the source claimed Sánchez and Bezos tried to be less "Marie Antoinette" by reducing the budget of the Venice ceremony. Their wedding costs were reportedly under £10 million [$14 million].

Sources claimed Bezos and Sánchez had secured their assets before their wedding, noting they had an ironclad prenuptial agreement. An insider argued that the billionaire did not take this route because he did not trust his partner, but to avoid legal drama.

"Jeff Bezos doesn't just want a prenup; he wants a prenup that will survive any legal challenge," California lawyer Alphonse Provinziano claimed. He believed Bezos would have been transparent about his assets with Sánchez and given her plenty of time to review the documents.

"For someone as rich as Bezos, that means preparing documentation of the complex accounting arrangements and business deals he's involved in so that she couldn't later claim that he hid certain assets from her," Provinziano added, noting a team of lawyers would have been enlisted for the process.

Last month, The Blast reported that Bezos and Sánchez had made headlines for allegedly choosing a unique spot for their wedding ceremony. A source claimed they would not tie the knot in any of the churches in Venice but at an open-air theater.

"The word is that they have booked the theater, which has been restored. It's not your usual venue for a wedding; it would be iconic," the informant shared. They added that people were excited for Bezos and Sánchez's ceremony, noting it was what most could talk about.

According to reports, the venue has already blocked out dates for two weeks in June. The open-air theater, situated in an undisclosed area of Venice, can be accessed by water, offering guests a stunning view and privacy to celebrate Bezos and Sánchez's union.

Three months before reports claimed Bezos had chosen to scale down his wedding ceremony, The Blast shared his soon-to-be brother-in-law's claims about the upcoming event. Paul Sánchez raved about the couple's plans in March, claiming it would be a grand spectacle.

"I think it's gonna be like a Princess Di thing. Just huge and fun, and just a blast," Paul said about his sister's union to Bezos. Comparing the upcoming event to the late Princess Diana's royal wedding to Prince Charles in 1981 was a bold statement, given the significance of the event.

The late Diana's union was widely regarded as the "wedding of the century," meaning Bezos and Sánchez would have to do something more extravagant to beat that title.

However, the royal wedding reportedly cost $48 million at the time, around $168 million today. Given the couple's smaller budget, they might have difficulty beating Diana's record.

Can Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez pacify Venice locals before their wedding ceremony?