The wedding week of ubiquitous multibillionaire Jeff Bezos and former television journalist Lauren Sánchez’s has unfolded in a frenzy of paparazzi photos, outrage and protest, whispers of wealthy wedding guests — and, sadly, an uninspiring aesthetic.
What might have been an opportunity to win a highly skeptical public has, predictably, become an exercise in tone-deaf excess. It doesn’t even feel particularly fun to write about — and trust me, I love weddings and bridal fashion.
What might have been an opportunity to win a highly skeptical public has, predictably, become an exercise in tone-deaf excess.
Bezos and Sánchez reportedly began their relationship in 2019. Both had announced divorces that same year; Bezos from MacKenzie Scott, with whom he shares four children, and Sánchez from her second husband, Patrick Whitesell, with whom she shares two children. Their first year together was filled with tabloid controversy. In a Medium post, Bezos accused the National Enquirer of blackmailing him with private, suggestive photos that he had sent to Sánchez. The crux of the public intrigue wasn’t the blackmail, but Bezos’ very visible wedding band in the photographs.
Bezos proposed to Sánchez in 2023 with a light pink cushion cut diamond, estimated to be worth anywhere from $3 to $5 million. The proposal took place aboard Bezos’ $500 million yacht during the Cannes Film Festival. In the years since, their relationship has been defined by heavily photographed outings, both personal and professional, ostentatious events and public displays of affection. Those close to the couple are quick to say their love is “demonstrable.”
Many details of the wedding have remained secret. We do know it took place Friday. We know it is expected to cost between $45 and $55 million and that upward of 90 private jets were expected to land at Venice’s Treviso and Verona airports. We know that five of Venice’s most upscale hotels were reportedly booked to host some 200 guests. We know, after ABC News obtained a bizarrely designed portion of their wedding invitation, that the couple requested donations to three Venetian institutions in lieu of gifts — which feels, to me, like table stakes.
The festivities began earlier this week with a foam party on the deck of Bezos’ yacht, per images of Bezos and Sánchez, both in bathing suits and covered in soapy white foam, circulating online. The photos reignited popular social media speculation and trolling that, for Bezos, this is all an opportunity to be a “cool guy.” That foam party seemed to set the tone for the rest of the week: an uncanny display of wealth, out of step with what we have come to expect from high-profile weddings.
The celebrations were met with protests across Venice. On Monday, a group of protesters took over Piazza San Marco with banners that read “If You Can Rent Venice For Your Wedding You Can Pay More Tax” and “No Space for Bezos.” According to CNN, one organizer spoke to the crowd and said, “Let’s make sure that Venice is not remembered as a postcard venue where Bezos had his wedding but as the city that did not bend to oligarchs.”
From Venice to New York City, the world is growing weary of the extraordinary wealth divide between the uber wealthy, the “oligarchy,” and the rest of us. And it isn’t just that Bezos is some sort of representative figurehead; he’s supported Trump and Trump-era policies that will impact every one of us financially, socially or politically. There is a dissonance here that cannot be ignored. Sánchez wore a Dolce & Gabbana wedding gown for the ceremony. According to Puck, her decision to wear the Italian fashion house was simple: “She likes it, those guys are nice to her, and [Vogue’s Anna] Wintour approves.” Sánchez, who went viral for wearing a tailored Alexander McQueen pantsuit and exposed lacy bra to President Donald Trump’s second inauguration, has leaned into clothing with sex appeal. Her lace wedding gown, reportedly inspired by Sophia Loren’s gown in the 1958 film “Houseboat” is unsurprising. This wedding — the tenor, the clothes, the cost — indicate a callous indifference toward the realities the rest of the world is facing. Perhaps part of what makes it so unsettling is the indisputable knowledge of how much good Bezos, Sánchez and their wedding guests could be doing to help the world. A few million dollars in donations, when you have a few billion dollars, is not amelioration. Not even close. When everyone knows how much you have, flaunting it so flagrantly is insulting to the common person — even vulgar. People are struggling — emotionally, financially and socially. We are in the midst geopolitical crisis, the U.S. economy is flashing warning signs, young people cannot afford homes, and the country is split political and socially. Let them eat wedding cake, I guess.
Hannah Holland
Hannah Holland is a producer for MSNBC's "Velshi" and editor for the "Velshi Banned Book Club." She writes for MSNBC Daily. 
