At Bezos’ Venetian Wedding: Buzz, Bling and Backlash

The over-the-top party in the photogenic Italian city mixed Hollywood, Silicon Valley and political overtones.On Friday, Venice’s canals filled with polished motorboats bearing Hollywood stars, millionaires and Khloé Kardashian in a cape of pink feathers as they headed to Jeff Bezos’ wedding to Lauren Sánchez.On Saturday, it was the turn of dozens of public order police officers on foot, boats and water skis.A day after Ms. Sánchez took to Instagram on Friday night to introduce herself to the world as Lauren Sanchez-Bezos, wearing a lacy white mermaid dress, Venice braced for protesters who threatened to descend again on the city to voice their anger over the wedding — and armed conflict around the world.Despite his efforts to have a private if star-studded multimillion-dollar wedding in Venice, Mr. Bezos’ wealth and powerful connections left the couple’s thoroughly curated celebrations caught up in an intensely political and moral debate.From Venetian bars to British newspapers and even among Italian politicians in Rome, the wedding became a topic of conversation, focusing not on the bride’s outfits, but on Mr. Bezos’ businesses, money and friends.The result was an over-the-top party in one of the world’s most stunning cities mixing Hollywood, Silicon Valley, Ivanka Trump and political overtones.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.