Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s star-studded Venice wedding begins amid protests: What we know

“We are used to managing very important events,” Deputy Venice Mayor Simone Venturini told NBC News on Wednesday as the city geared up for the wedding, adding that the city previously hosted the late Pope Francis and world leaders attending the G7 and G20 summits.

In an earlier interview, he also recalled that the city had managed actor George Clooney and human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin’s 2014 wedding, as crowds lined the canals and hundreds of well-wishers gathered outside City Hall.

Unlike the Clooney wedding however, he said, Bezos’ wedding would not be legal under Italian law because it needed “to be done in an official place like the City Hall.” Neither Bezos nor Sanchez, a former TV news anchor, had requested this, he said.

As a result, some have speculated that the couple have already legally wed in the United States.

Not everyone in the city is as welcoming as Venturini. In recent weeks, there have been protests about the Amazon founder’s presence in the city, with those who object displaying the banner “No Space for Bezos,” a play on words referring to his space exploration company, Blue Origin.

Around a dozen Venetian organizations including anti-cruise ship campaigners and housing advocates, have been joined by larger activist groups like Greenpeace, which unfurled a giant tarp in the city’s famous St. Mark’s Square on Monday, with a picture of a smiling Bezos underneath the words: “If you can rent Venice for your wedding you can pay more taxes.”