As Venice readies for Lauren Sánchez and Jeff Bezos’s multiday wedding extravaganza, it’s no longer just gondolas floating around the city’s famous waterways—it’s creepy Bezos mannequins as well.
The long-awaited nuptials of the Amazon founder and the journalist are bringing flocks of celebrities to the small city—including Oprah Winfrey, Ivanka Trump, and the Kardashians—and they are booking most of the city’s elite water taxis, gondolas, and docks.
While Venice has hosted star-studded weddings in the past—including that of Amal and George Clooney—none have drawn as much criticism, due in part to the event’s extravagant nature. For instance, just days before the wedding, the couple celebrated a foam party aboard their $500 million superyacht.
Locals and internet activists have been rallying in protest of not just the wedding, but of Amazon’s labor practices, its founder’s mass accumulation of wealth, overtourism, and the disruption of daily lives for locals. As a result, organized efforts are giving the wedding party a not-so-warm welcome along the way.
To keep up with the chaos, Fast Company rounded up some of the pre-wedding protests, breaking down some of the strange yet somewhat successful efforts.
“No Space for Bezos”
A nod to Bezos and Sánchez’s now infamous space-travel pursuits, “No Space for Bezos” is the unifying movement for activists opposing the local government’s alleged prioritization of tourism above local residents.
The movement gained traction following a now-viral stunt in which St. Mark’s Square was draped with a large banner reading: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more tax.” Below the text was a large image of Bezos laughing.
Since then, grassroots efforts have plastered the city with banners across famous sites, and have gained the support of larger organizations such as Greenpeace and the U.K. group Everyone Hates Elon.
Floating mannequins
On the stranger end of protests, several mannequins resembling Bezos and Sánchez have been spotted around the Floating City’s canals.
In one, the figures are dressed in wedding attire and aboard a gondola, with a cardboard sign featuring Amazon’s logo. “The live versions are creepier,” one user commented on the TikTok video.
Another viral video features a man who’s tossing into Venice’s Grand Canal a Bezos mannequin that’s grabbing onto a large Amazon box. The dummy appears to be wearing a blue jumpsuit resembling the one Bezos used on his Blue Origin suborbital space flight, and it is holding fake dollar bills.
Online mockery
Beyond the more organized protests, countless people have taken to social media to mock the event, particularly a now-leaked image of the wedding’s invitation.
While the invitation asks guests not to bring gifts—but rather provide donations to Venice-related causes, including UNESCO Venice, Corila, and Venice International University—it gained attention due to its kitschy design.
On the r/CrappyDesign subreddit, a now-deleted post of the invite drew ridicule and criticism, with one user commenting: “You’ve got all the money in the world and you do an invite that looks like it was designed by a 10-year-old on MS Paint.”
Another user on TikTok made a video saying: “You are shitting money every two seconds. I was expecting some Ambani-level shit. I was expecting opulence.” She added: “I need rich people to rich right.”
What have the wedding planners said about the backlash?
Reached for comment by Fast Company earlier this week, the events team that is organizing the wedding said it has aimed to minimize disruptions. The team also emphasized that it has overwhelmingly hired locals to staff the event.
