Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s three-day wedding extravaganza has officially begun, and as such, the A-lister parade is underway in Venice. The floating city is currently populated by most of the Kardashians, multiple tech billionaires, and a vocal contingent of locals who are really pissed that their city is basically being shut down for a private event. Oh, and Usher is there too.
Bezos and Sánchez arrived on Wednesday via helicopter. People reported that prior to Venice, they had been on Bezos’s yacht, which was parked off the coast of Croatia and played host to a big pre-wedding foam party. Despite early reports that the wedding might take place on the yacht, it appears it is staying put, perhaps to get all the last bits of foam off the deck.
The celebrities were not far behind. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner got to town before everyone else and with their kids in tow. Their sister-in-law, Karlie Kloss, arrived a few days later, presumably with her husband, Josh Kushner, although he was not photographed. Sánchez is old friends with the Kardashian-Jenner family, so it wasn’t surprising to see Kim and Khloé Kardashian along with Kris Jenner in Venice. (Corey Gamble, Jenner’s longtime boyfriend, seems to have scored a plus-one invite.) They quickly got to socializing and were photographed greeting fellow guests Scooter Braun and a newly single Orlando Bloom.
Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King arrived together, the latter having bonded with Sánchez after their brief trip to space earlier this year. Other famous people seen disembarking from water taxis included Tom Brady, Diane von Furstenberg, Barry Diller, and Usher. I hate to say this, but I think we all need to prepare ourselves for the possibility of seeing Usher dangle a maraschino cherry into Sánchez’s mouth at some point this weekend.
As guests made their way to the welcome party on Thursday, Leonardo DiCaprio and his girlfriend, model Vittoria Ceretti, were seen boarding another contingent of water taxis, along with former editor-in-chief of British Vogue Edward Enninful. It seemed that everyone had been given a different dress code for the first big event of the weekend. For example, here is Sánchez in Schiaparelli couture. Based on this, you might think that the vibe is “gilded luxury” or something to that effect.
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But then Kim Kardashian popped out in this number:
And then Kylie and Kendall Jenner showed up looking like this:
So maybe it’s more casual? If that is the case, why is Indian philanthropist Natasha Poonawalla (seen in the background here) wearing a sculptural minidress inspired by Valentine’s Day boxes of chocolate? Riddle me that.
Meanwhile, DiCaprio showed up looking like this:
That man and his baseball caps. Here, DiCaprio is just using his hand to keep his face out of view, instead of his usual face mask. If we zoom and enhance … is that … an Oura ring? A man needs his stats, I guess.
In addition to all those actual famous faces, a bunch of Bezos’s rich-guy friends are also in Venice. Bill Gates, Ari Emanuel, and Lachlan Murdoch were photographed arriving in the city, as were current Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt. Miguel Bezos, Jeff’s father and Amazon’s initial investor, was also seen rolling up.
Every wedding needs a good wild-card guest, and my nomination for this one is Queen Raina of Jordan. Is she friends with the bride or groom? Will she hobnob with the rich guys, the other beautiful women, or the small political contingent? Will she be Usher’s cherry girl? Hopefully, the couple isn’t locking people’s phones away and we’ll be able to get a few answers.
