Taormina, Italy — Billionaire Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez, are celebrating their recent nuptials with a honeymoon at the luxurious San Domenico Palace, a Four Seasons property in Sicily. The couple’s lavish wedding in Venice, which ballooned to approximately $50 million, drew significant media attention and an array of celebrity guests.
Following their three-day wedding festivities, the couple reportedly set sail for Sicily aboard Bezos’ $500 million superyacht, Koru. The destination holds a special place for them; Bezos has expressed his fondness for Taormina after visiting last year while exploring the Aeolian Islands with Sánchez.
The San Domenico Palace gained fame as a backdrop for the HBO series “The White Lotus,” which portrays the extravagant lives of the wealthy. The hotel, which has welcomed luminaries like Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor, was also a venue for the G7 summit in 2017, playing host to global leaders.
Rooms at the luxurious hotel can reach nightly rates of up to $8,000, a small fraction compared to the couple’s extravagant wedding expenses. The engagement ring given to Sánchez alone is estimated to be worth between $3 million and $5 million.
Bezos and Sánchez’s wedding, dubbed the “wedding of the century,” attracted around 200 high-profile attendees, including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and television personality Oprah Winfrey. Many guests arrived via private yachts and jets, effectively taking over Venice’s Marco Polo Airport. Notably, former President Donald Trump was invited but unable to attend due to scheduling conflicts.
While the celebration showcased the couple’s wealth and influence, it also sparked local protests in Venice. Residents expressed concerns that the wedding festivities would disrupt daily life and exacerbate overtourism in the historic city. In response to local discontent, the couple opted to move the celebrations from central Venice to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, utilizing a former medieval shipyard known as the Arsenale.
As they unwind in Sicily, the couple is expected to enjoy the leisurely pace amidst breathtaking Mediterranean views, marking another chapter in their high-profile romance. While the wedding was a spectacle of affluence, the juxtaposition of local protests raises questions about the impact of such events on popular tourist destinations.