Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are set to tie the knot on the obscure island of San Giovanni Evangelista in Venice amid three days of festivities this week
Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sánchez are to finally tie the knot – despite concerns wedding crashers are poised to strike.
Protesters with Greenpeace and the UK-based activist group Everyone Hates Elon (EHE) are braced to express their fury at the extravagant affair, which will see 200 guests enjoy a pre-wedding gala dinner tomorrow night and then several other festivities across three days.
Mr Bezos, 61, has already had to amend plans, though, because Venice residents have threatened to blockade the city’s historic canals with inflatable crocodiles. They are so unhappy the billionaire “will shutting down Venice” that Mr Bezos has scrambled to move the ceremony itself from the 16th-century Scuola Grande della Misericordia to Arsenale, a vast, fortress-like complex of shipyards and warehouses once used to build Venetian warships.
The star is determined for the occasion to go ahead without any further snags as he has been dating Miss Sánchez, a news reporter, for some seven years. It is likely no challenges will arise once the 200 guests, including Kim Kardashian and her mother Kris Jenner, descend on the tiny island of San Giovanni Evangelista for Thursday’s dinner. Just 11 people live on the island and its only dwelling is a modest five-bedroom home, previously the guesthouse to a convent which was part of a long-destroyed monastery complex.
READ MORE: Jeff Bezos forced to move wedding venue after locals threaten to block Venice canals
But in mainland Venice, where most of the guests will stay and get a boat onto the island, EHE and Greenpeace protesters yesterday unfurled a giant 20x20m message close to the spot where Mr Bezos is to marry his partner.
The banner, in the city’s famous St Mark’s Square, reads: “IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX.” The groups complain Mr Bezos, a father of four, is the second-richest man in the world yet is reported to pay a 1.1% true tax rate.
A spokesperson from EHE said: “As governments talk about hard choices and struggle to fund public services, Jeff Bezos can afford to shut down half a city for days on end just to get married. Just weeks ago, he spent millions on an 11-minute space trip. If there was ever a sign billionaires like Bezos should pay wealth taxes, it’s this.
“While ordinary people struggle to pay the bills, there are more billionaires than ever before. These two things are obviously connected – they’re getting richer at our expense. It’s not rocket science: tax billionaires like Jeff Bezos now.”
READ MORE: Jeff Bezos’ Venice nuptials to be met with activist wedding crashers
It is thought the billionaire anticipated the backlash, hiring San Giovanni Evangelista as an emergency measure to have room away from any fuss. A wedding planner said yesterday: This is an inspired choice. Wonderful – not obvious – and very clever.”
But another source told Mail Online they believe Mr Bezos to be “unlucky”, having ended up “picking [one of] the worst days to get married”. They alluded to the conflict between Iran and Israel which remains tense despite Donald Trump’s claims a ceasefire was reached on Monday.
And Mr Trump was expected at the wedding but, due to the tensions in the Middle East, it is anticipated the Republican leader will miss the ceremony on Friday. The guest list is, though, full of stars from across the world, notably in wealthy showbusiness circles.
It is thought Mr Bezos and Miss Sánchez will make a substantial donation to Venetian charities with their own wealth. Their wedding planners also insist they are attempting to “minimise any disruption to the city”, home to around 250,000 people. A source said: “They don’t want it to look as if they have bought Venice.”