Venice: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos who was set to marry his longtime partner, Lauren Sanchez in Venice has decided to move the celebrations out of the city. The wedding which was being touted as the “Wedding of the Century” will now no longer be held at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia – a 16th Century building at the heart of Venice.
Why Bezos moved out of Venice?
Now the question is why did the billionaire decide to move the celebrations out of the beautiful city. The reason is inflatable crocodiles. Yes you read that right. The reason the billionaire is moving out of the celebrations is a threat by the residents of Venice to fill the canals with inflatable crocodiles, so as to block the guests from entering the city.
The residents of Venice were not happy with the celebrations. They had now been threatening for weeks that the wedding celebrations would face protests, as it would disturb the peace and serenity of the city.
A group called, ‘No Space for Bezos’ had been formed which was protesting against the celebrations. They claimed that the billionaire was forced to move out the celebrations after they threatened to stop the guests from arriving.
The group first came into the spotlight after Venice Mayor, Luigi Brugnaro made the announcement of Bezos’ wedding in the city. The group had put up posters across the city and hung banners regarding the exploitation of the city.
Firstpost quoted one of the protestors as saying, “We are very proud of this! We are nobodies, we have no money, nothing! We’re just citizens who started organising and we managed to move one of the most powerful people in the world – all the billionaires – out of the city.”
Another activist described successfully forcing Bezos to move the venue as a “victory”. One activist said that the venue was changed because even the authorities knew that the “crocodile protest” would have brought a bad name to the city.
New venue
Bezos and Sanchez are now getting married in Arsenale – a famous complex of shipyards in the eastern Castello district built in the 14th Century. The guest list includes big names like, Elon Musk, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kim Kardashian, At least 200 to 250 guests are expected to attend the wedding.
The estimated cost of the 3-day wedding is between USD 7 million to USD 10 million. This is the second marriage for both the bride and the groom. While Bezos was previously married to MacKenzie Scott, Sanchez had wed Hollywood agent Patrick Whitesell.
