Venice Locals Protest Jeff Bezos’ Upcoming Wedding With Massive Signs, Sit-ins

They held a sit-in, draped massive signs from the famous Rialto Bridge, and more.

Jun 14, 2025 - 13:14

Venice Locals Protest Jeff Bezos’ Upcoming Wedding With Massive Signs, Sit-ins

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's romance has become a pop culture spectacle, not necessarily for obsessions with their love story but for the spectacle of it all. Friday afternoon, this thread continued as demonstrators took to Venice to show a lack of support for the Amazon and Blue Origin founder and his fiancé having their wedding on the island.

The couple got engaged in May 2023 while on Bezos' superyacht. They are set to get married in Venice, Italy, with the official dates set to June 24 to 26. While they seem to have a nuptial extravaganza planned for themselves and their billionaire pals, locals are not so happy. Demonstrations cropped up across the city as activists put up massive signs in protest of their wedding being held on the island.

“No space for Bezos!” a sign draped over the Rialto bridge read. Demonstrators also had signs with a red "x" through the founder's name. Bezos has an estimated worth of $228.4 billion.

For context, Venice is already strained and faces issues of overtourism. This is why the city decided to impose an entrance fee on visitors staring in the spring of 2024. The Italian locale also faces issues of, well, existing much longer. It is also famously sinking while dealing with rising sea levels that already cause the city stress with staying above water. If efforts don't work to stop this, it could be underwater as early as 2100, per the BBC.

Despite dissatisfaction from locals, the city of Venice claimed it would have the wedding on the island with "no abnormal disruption to anyone."

Throughout their relationship, Bezos and Sánchez have made all sorts of headlines. There was their controversial Vogue cover, various reports on their prenup agreement, the all-women Blue Origin spaceflight, and, of course, their presence at President Donald Trump’s 2025 inauguration, where Sánchez wore a white suit and intentionally flashed her lace bra beneath it.

Stay tuned for more updates on Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez's wedding.