Overview

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's Venice Wedding refers to memes and discussions about American billionaire tech entrepreneur Jeff Bezos marrying former news anchor and pilot Lauren Sánchez in a three-day wedding in Venice, Italy, from June 24th to June 28th, 2025. The couple, who first started dating in 2019, began the wedding weekend with a "foam party" celebrating Sánchez's son's 19th birthday party aboard Bezos's $500 million yacht off the coast of Croatia before sailing to the historic Italian city of Venice on June 23rd. However, the wedding ceremony was relocated to the remote Arsenale area of Venice after residents and activist groups protested the event in early June 2025 and threatened to blockade the canal in protest of the billionaire. Groups like "No Space For Bezos" and "Everyone Hates Elon" held actions where they unfurled banners criticizing Bezos and released sculptures deriding him and his company, Amazon, in the days leading up to the event. A wedding invitation in which the couple asked for no gifts drew mockery for its simplistic design, while the wedding itself drew largely negative reactions online.

Background

According to Us Weekly,^[1] Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez began dating in early 2019, shortly after Bezos announced his divorce from his ex-wife, Mackenzie Scott. In May 2023, during a Mediterranean cruise aboard his $500 million yacht Koru, Bezos proposed with a 20–30 carat pink diamond ring reportedly worth up to $5 million.

The couple chose Venice, Italy, as their wedding venue in late March 2025, with a news report posted to the Today YouTube^[2] channel confirmed the news on May 31st, 2025, and quoting a statement by the mayor of Venice assuring the public that the event can take place without disrupting the city, its residents and visitors.

Developments

No Space for Bezos

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's decision to hold their wedding in Venice was met with criticism from local residents and activist groups in June 2025, many of whom formed a coalition called "No Space for Bezos."

An Instagram^[3] page for the group was launched on June 7th, 2025, and on June 12th, the group hung a banner protesting the billionaire's presence in the city. An Instagram^[4] post depicting the action gathered over 2,000 likes in two weeks.

On June 23rd, 2025, Greenpeace UK and the anti-Elon Musk group "Everyone Hates Elon" collaborated to unfurl a large banner that read, "IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX," in Venice's St. Mark's Square.

A video of the action was posted to the Instagram^[5] page @everyonehateselon_ and @greenpeaceuk that same day, where it gathered over 7 million views and 370,000 likes in three days.

Anonymous activist KONNARTISS^[6] released a number of anti-Bezos sculptures ahead of the Bezos-Sanchez wedding in June 2025 as well, erecting a sculpture showing Bezos sitting on a toilet seat, and releasing a sculpture into the canals of Venice showing Bezos clutching wads of money while floating on an Amazon carton.

Protesters float Jeff Bezos dummy ahead of his wedding in Venice pic.twitter.com/8lrFjTA64t

— Piyush Mittal 🇺🇸🇺🇦🇬🇪🇨🇦🟧🌊🌈 (@piyushmittal) June 25, 2025

On June 24th, Reuters^[7] reported that security concerns regarding the protests had led to the wedding being moved from the historic Scuola Grande della Misericordia building to the Arsenale, a cluster of armories and shipyards in a more remote part of Venice.

Wedding Invitation

On June 24th, 2025, the X^[8] account @PopCrave made a post sharing a copy of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's wedding invite in which the couple asks guests not to bring them gifts but instead donate to various charities dedicated to the conservation of the city of Venice. The post gathered over 31,000 likes in two days.

Several internet users criticized the invite for its simplistic and whimsical graphic design, with X^[9] user @BeeBabs calling it "tacky" and X^[10] user @trashloger sharing a Graphic Design is my Passion meme on June 25th, gathering over 2,000 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

On June 20th, 2025, Redditor /u/mlg1981 posted a video of an anti-Bezos protest to the subreddit /r/FauxMoi,^[12] writing, "Plans are underway to block the Venice canals with protesters ahead of the Bezos’ wedding." The post gathered over 30,000 upvotes in a week.

Several internet users reacted to details about Bezos and Sanchez's Venice wedding in the weeks leading up to July 2025, with Gunnels Warren writing on X,^[11] "This is what oligarchy looks like: Jeff Bezos, the 3rd richest man in the world worth $231 billion, can afford to sail into Venice on his $500 million yacht for his $20 million, 3-day wedding to give his bride a $5 million ring because his real tax rate is 1.1%. Tax the rich!" The June 23rd, 2025, post gathered over 80,000 likes in three days.

On June 24th, Warren posted a follow-up tweet on X^[13] sharing a photo of Bezos and Sanchez at their "foam party," writing, "While Jeff Bezos is worth $230 billion, Amazon pays wages so low that thousands of his workers are forced to survive on food stamps, Medicaid & public housing. / In other words, your taxpayer dollars subsidized his $500 million yacht. / Yes. Jeff Bezos is the real welfare queen." The post gathered over 18,000 likes in two days.

Also on June 24th, 2025, the TikTok^[14] page @metrouk posted a video of two "creepy" puppets made to resemble Bezos and Sanchez floating down a canal in Venice, gathering over 290,000 plays and 19,000 likes in two days.

Search Interest

External References