The eyes of the world will inevitably be on Venice later this month when financial colossus Jeff Bezos marries fiancee Lauren Sanchez.
Everyone in the Italian city is expecting a staggering display of wealth from Amazon-founder Bezos, with money to burn, and Ms Sanchez, who looks like she enjoys lighting the match.
And yet, despite the huge wealth and profile of the couple and their celebrity guests, it can be revealed that this will be a publicity-shy and surprisingly small event. Modest, even.
With fewer than 200 guests – a fraction of what was expected – and a final bill which is said to be less than £10million, it is clear that the bride and groom are dialling down on the bling.
As an impeccably placed source tells me: ‘The wedding has had a make-under.’ Indeed, the event is going to cost the equivalent of loose change for the groom, who is worth $220billion and spends $34million a year just to run his yacht – the $500 million Koru.
The yacht will be moored at San Basilio – the closest the giant vessel can get to the centre of Venice due to regulations to protect the city’s fragile ecosystem – and be in sight of the Hotel Cipriani, where many guests will be lodged.
It’s thought Jeff, Lauren and their immediate families will stay on the nine-bedroom yacht. Other guests will be split between the Cipriani and Aman hotels nearby. The only famous couple definitely going are actor Orlando Bloom and his wife Katy Perry. Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian are invited, but their attendance has not been confirmed.
Instead, the guests of honour will be Bezos’ mum, Jackie, who had Jeff when she was 17, and his adoptive father and life-long inspiration, Mike Bezos.
Everyone in Venice is expecting a staggering display of wealth for the wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez later this month, writes Alison Boshoff
Ms Sanchez took part in the Blue Origin space flight alongside pop star Katy Perry in April
The island of San Giorgio Maggiore will potentially be the destination for the couple’s nuptials
The Fondazione Cini monastery is rumoured to be one of a few possible ceremony locations
The couple loaned him $245,000, their life savings, to start Amazon in 1995 and Mike, who now runs the Bezos family foundation, is a particularly impressive individual, having emigrated to the US alone from Cuba aged 16.
So why the – relatively – humble plans? I understand part of the reason was the PR disaster of the all-female Blue Origin ‘space flight’ in April – when Lauren and her five crew, including Perry, donned skin-tight space suits to blast to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere. The project attracted huge criticism for being a meaningless stunt.
I am told the couple have not sent paper or email invitations, the better to sail under the radar. And they have trimmed their guest list to the bare bones. ‘It is very sweet, very understated,’ says a guest. ‘It is not an ostentatious blow out.
‘They understand that the space flight criticism was bad for a reason and are responding to it by being less “Marie Antoinette”.’
The source adds: ‘People really underestimate Lauren and Jeff. Truly, they are good people. They don’t want the wedding to be a lightning rod for inequities in the world. It’s just a wedding.’ That’s as maybe, but the celebrations are still expected to take place at jaw-droppingly beautiful – and exclusive – locations.
Sources in Venice believe the nuptials will happen at the Fondazione Cini – a monastery on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Crucially, it will be free on June 25 – the most likely day of the wedding – as it is closed to the public on Wednesdays.
Having twice hosted the G7 summit, it can offer complete security and privacy and is close to where the Koru will dock.
Sources also expect celebrations at the palazzo apartment owned by Bezos’ close friend Diane von Furstenberg. Local sources indicate that all 79 rooms of the fabled Hotel Cipriani have been block booked from June 24-26. A suite in high season costs around £20,000 a night. The Cipriani boasts the largest swimming pool in Venice and the Casanova gardens, where the infamous seducer used to meet his conquests.
The couple are also believed to have booked out the Aman Canal Grande, the 24-bedroom palazzo where George Clooney tied the knot with lawyer Amal in 2014.
Plans are being co-ordinated with the mayor of Venice’s office to minimise disruption but some locals concerned about overtourism are planning protests.
‘This city is not for sale, it is not a playground for the rich,’ said activist Ruggero Tallon.
Additional reporting: Silvia Marchetti
