An 11-minute spaceflight, a $500 million yacht, and five days of luxury in Venice—Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s love story is as ambitious as a moon mission. But not everyone is cheering.
BY PC Bureau
It began as a dream shared between two people in love—a promise from Jeff Bezos to Lauren Sanchez that one day, she would touch the edge of space. After a year-long delay, that wish was finally fulfilled.
The moment was more than just a private milestone—it was symbolic, almost like a rite of passage before their upcoming wedding, marking five years of a high-profile relationship. For this couple, even love unfolds on a cosmic scale.
Lauren’s trip aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard wasn’t just any flight. It was the first all-female space crew since 1963, featuring six prominent women, including pop icon Katy Perry, NASA rocket scientist Ayesha Bow, CBS journalist Gayle King, activist Amanda Nguyen, and producer Keriann Flynn. Sanchez led the mission, a bold statement from someone long accustomed to the spotlight.
But not everyone applauded. Critics slammed the flight’s extravagant cost in a time of economic hardship. Olivia Munn questioned the morality of spending millions on a space joyride “while people can’t afford eggs.” Emily Ratajkowski called the whole thing “disgusting.” Olivia Wilde quipped that “billions bought a few memes.” Yet Sanchez held her ground, insisting that ridicule only makes her stronger. She encouraged skeptics to visit Blue Origin and see the passion of its people. As for the flight itself? It made her—and her fellow passengers—appreciate Earth even more.
Jeff Bezos’ fiancée Lauren Sanchez models her spacesuit ahead of her all-female crew trip to Space aboard Blue Origin.
Sanchez will go into Space during the 11 minute trip alongside Gayle King, Katy Perry, Amanda Nguyen Aisha Bowe and Kerianne Flynn. pic.twitter.com/vnE9xE9CBh
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) April 13, 2025
Still, some saw the space launch as a veiled marketing push for Blue Origin’s astronomically priced tickets. After all, the company’s first seat was auctioned for $28 million. And no one missed Bezos’s awkward stumble as he rushed to greet Sanchez upon her return to Earth.
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From Launchpads to Lavish Vows
And now, Earthbound again, the couple is preparing for what’s being touted as “the wedding of the century.”
Originally rumored to be set in Aspen’s wintry splendor last December, the wedding has shifted to the opulence of Venice. It will span five full days—June 24 to 29—across five luxury hotels, including the seven-star Aman Venice and the iconic Gritti Palace. Both are fully booked for guests. Suites with Grand Canal views typically start at €3,200 per night and can reach ten times that, depending on the occasion—which this certainly qualifies as.
The wedding could unfold at the Aman, at the Doge’s Palace, or even the Venice city hall—though early speculation placed it aboard Bezos’s $500 million superyacht, Koru, the largest sailing yacht in the world. While the yacht proposal added to its legend, logistical challenges in the less-scenic Arsenale dock shifted attention back to land.
Venice’s entire fleet of water taxis has been reserved for guests. And Sanchez has already chosen her gown: a custom Oscar de la Renta piece, selected with help from Vogue’s Anna Wintour, who’s taken Sanchez under her wing since last year’s Met Gala.
The guest list reads like a Hollywood-political summit. Expected attendees include Donald and Melania Trump, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Oprah Winfrey, Eva Longoria, Kim Kardashian, Queen Rania of Jordan, Barbra Streisand, and of course, Wintour herself. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro has confirmed around 250 handpicked guests.
Venetians, however, have reacted with a mix of amusement and concern, cheekily suggesting the city impose “celebrity wedding tariffs” to curb the rising trend of ultra-rich nuptials.
The Bezos Empire
At 61, Jeff Bezos commands a net worth of over $192 billion. Since launching Amazon from his garage in Seattle in 1994, he’s grown it into the planet’s largest online retailer—expanding into fashion, aerospace, and Hollywood.
Amazon now sells everything under the sun in over 40 countries. Its logistics network includes Amazon Air, with 100+ aircraft, and AWS powers digital giants like Airbnb, BMW, and Ticketmaster. Bezos also owns The Washington Post and MGM’s entertainment library, acquired in 2022 for $8.5 billion.
Sanchez, 55, is no mere plus-one. A former TV journalist, she founded Black Ops Aviation, a high-end aerial production company serving clients like Netflix, ABC, and Blue Origin. After her divorce from agent Patrick Whitesell, she settled into a $6.2 million Mercer Island estate. Together, she and Bezos purchased a $78 million sanctuary in Hawaii.
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Koru, the mogul’s 127-meter yacht, boasts swimming pools, cinemas, lounges, and meeting rooms. For good measure, Bezos also commissioned Abeona, an 85-meter support vessel worth $75 million. Add to that two Gulfstream G650ER jets, and it’s clear that Bezos’s life is one of scale.
But the real transformation, many note, is not his bank account—it’s him. Sanchez has brought Bezos into the social sphere, humanizing a man once seen as an aloof tech baron. As some observers put it, she made him known to the world.
Viral Moments and Bold Entrances
Who could forget Sanchez’s headline-making appearance at Donald Trump’s 2017 inauguration? Her daring dress and commanding presence turned heads—most memorably Mark Zuckerberg’s. Cameras caught the Facebook founder staring, stunned. That image spread faster than any policy Trump announced that day.
Publicity seems to follow Sanchez wherever she goes—and she knows how to work it. From Aspen to Venice, from space to politics, she’s rewritten the playbook on visibility.
In the grand theater of wealth, power, and love, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are staging one of the most extravagant acts of the decade. Whether it’s a spectacle or a storybook ending depends on where you’re watching from.
