Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez’s Wedding in Venice costs over $50 Million

• Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are hosting a big wedding in Venice, inviting hundreds of VIPs from various industries, with the celebrations expected to cost between 40-48 million euros
• Italy's tourism ministry estimated the wedding's total economic impact at 957 million euros, including a significant boost from media visibility
• Among the guests were Ivanka Trump, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, and the Kardashians, while the festivities featured performances by Elton John and Lady Gaga

Legit.ng journalist Zainab Iwayemi has 5-year-experience covering the Economy, Technology, and Capital Market.

Hundreds of VIPs from the entertainment, film, and banking industries were invited to Venice this week for three days of wedding festivities hosted by founder Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez.

According to Luca Zaia, president of the Veneto region, which includes Venice, the wedding celebrations, with between 200–250 guests, are anticipated to cost 40–48 million euros ($47–56 million), he told reporters on Tuesday.

On Friday, Italy's tourism ministry announced that it had conducted research estimating the wedding's total economic impact at 957 million euros ($1.12 billion), including a 896 million euro boost from "media visibility."

The remainder would come from event-related direct or indirect spending, such as 17.6 million euros ($20.66 million) for transportation and other service costs and 28.4 million euros ($33.33 million) for hotel and venue facilities.

The festivities began on Thursday night at the cloisters of Madonna dell'Orto, a medieval church in Cannaregio's central quarter, which houses works by the 16th-century painter Tintoretto. The couple was scheduled to exchange rings on Friday across from St. Mark's Square on the small island of San Giorgio, while Matteo Bocelli, the son of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, sang.

The main event is scheduled for Saturday in the Arsenale, a former shipyard that produced ships for the maritime empire of the Venetian Republic. Elton John and Lady Gaga are expected to perform, according to several media reports.

Guests in Attendance

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, were among the first visitors to arrive in Venice on Tuesday. Many other celebrities joined them, including Domenico Dolce from Dolce & Gabbana, Bill Gates, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady, the Queen of Jordan, Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner, Kim, and Khloe Kardashian.

The city has reserved five of its most opulent hotels, including the St. Regis by St. Mark's Square and the Cipriani on the island of Giudecca. Rooms at the Aman, with a view of the Grand Canal, cost at least 4,000 euros per night, and Bezos and Sanchez moved there. American actor George Clooney and human rights attorney Amal Alamuddin were married in the same hotel in 2014.

Bezos wedding festivities kick off in Venice

Legit.ng earlier reported that VIPs whizzed by speed boat through Venice Thursday as the three-day wedding party of Amazon tycoon Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez kicked off and protesters demonstrated in St Mark's Square.

US reality TV personalities Kim and Khloe Kardashian were snapped climbing into water taxis in stilettos, followed by US talk show host Oprah Winfrey in an all-white outfit, including sensible trainers.

Tech magnate Bezos, 61, and Sanchez, 55, have reportedly invited about 200 guests to their multi-million dollar nuptials, which are expected to begin with an open-air soiree in the cloisters of the 14th-century Madonna dell'Orto church.

Source: Legit.ng