Daily Beast: Jeff Bezos & Lauren’s wedding came across as vulgar & insecure

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos’ Venice wedding was one of the ugliest and tackiest extravaganzas I’ve ever seen. I had gotten so used to celebrities attempting their version of “classy,” Pinterest-friendly weddings. It was shocking to see such excess and such an aversion to optics and aesthetics. It reminds me of those photos of the Trump inaugural parties and all of the white supremacists trying to act like they were cool and having such a good time… and they all just came across as vulgar, garish and monstrous. There was a fundamental try-hard quality to it all, which is part of the MAGA movement and includes Trump-supporters like Bezos and Sanchez. Speaking of, the Daily Beast Podcast tried to put their finger on exactly why no one was buying what Bezos and Sanchez were selling:

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez’s lavish nuptials spiraled into a tone-deaf circus that laid bare the grotesque gap between the ultra-rich and working Americans, according to writer Liz Plank. Plank, an award-winning journalist, joined The Daily Beast Podcast to discuss her viral Substack article on the multimillion-dollar, celebrity-stacked celebration in Venice, Italy, over the weekend. “Paper Straws for You, Private Jets for Them,” she titled the piece.

The controversial three-day affair drew local protests and eye-rolling around the world, but in Plank’s eyes, ultimately, the billionaire couple did it anyway because “they’re rich, but they probably want to be cool even more.”

“People who have a lot of money and feel secure in that don’t do these lavish displays of wealth. To your point, they do private things,” Plank told host Joanna Coles. “I think it was almost less about the money and more about, ‘Look at all these friends that we have. Look at all these fancy people who like us.’”

The 200 guests of the Amazon founder and former journalist included Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady, much of the Kardashian clan, Oprah Winfrey, Gayle King, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Karlie Kloss and husband Joshua Kushner, Usher, and Sydney Sweeney. Many of them arrived on private jets, with more than 95 reportedly expected to land in the historic city that is at real risk of disappearing under rising sea levels.

Coles suggested the brash display happened, perhaps in part because Donald Trump—a man whose maximalist inclinations have left the Oval Office draped in gold—“has given permission to everybody to release their inner vulgarian.”

“It used to be that billionaires were, for the most part, relatively discreet about their wealth,” Coles observed. “Now it seems to be like, ‘No, we’re going to show off as much as we possibly can, and we’re really going to enjoy it.’”

[From The Daily Beast]

“No, we’re going to show off as much as we possibly can, and we’re really going to enjoy it.” That’s just it – it wasn’t like Bezos and Sanchez were really “enjoying” it or reveling in decadence. They invited/paid dozens of celebrities to show up to their wedding, they weren’t even surrounded by their closest friends (if they even have close friends) and the whole thing came across as miserable to some extent. Now, I think Lauren probably had a good time, but that speaks to her own vulgarity.

What else? Apparently, Bezos “begged” to see Lauren’s dress before the wedding because he was so excited about it, and she almost let him see it. That’s supposedly a wedding curse – the groom is never supposed to see the wedding gown before the wedding day. It brings bad luck. Lauren probably should have let him see it.


.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images. Cover courtesy of Vogue.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

65 Responses to “Daily Beast: Jeff Bezos & Lauren’s wedding came across as vulgar & insecure”

  1. “Inner vulgarian” yep that is exactly what it was. Two classless people showing their “inner vulgarian”

    • booboocita says:

      Their inner vulgarians aren’t inner anymore — they’re on full display.

    • TheFarmer'sWife says:

      What happened to creating a super secret event, like Jen and Brad’s wedding? These two don’t even know they’re vulgar when it’s so clear to everyone else. It looked like, and photographed like, a “private island” kind of party. It was just icky. Oprah, for shame, so disappointed–sure, you’ve entered your nftg stage of life, but you should’ve stayed clear of this mess. Ugh.

  2. seraphina says:

    It looked like a paid PR event lacking warmth and, dare I say it, love. The bride reveled in the festivities; which I agree, speaks to her vulgarity. They came across tone deaf and not being able to read the room (Venice) but the entire world as well. With all that is going on THIS is what you want to show the world? But as the saying goes, when people show you who they are, believe them.
    My only question is, what spell or secret does she have because Bezos is wrapped around her finger.

    • Kittenmom says:

      The answers are bolted to her chest. LOL

      • seraphina says:

        He is obviously a chest man, but there are many women out there with that size and don’t look like a feline face with more class. But he obviously lacks class.

      • maisie says:

        and those lips, don’t forget. I’d get zapped for saying it for real but I’m guessing she does it for him at least 2-3 times a day.

    • Chez says:

      I suspect she will do absolutely *anything* and he’s loving that.

    • Startup Spouse says:

      Saw a great comment where someone asked, “Is Lauren happy or is she triumphant?”

      I think that sums it up.

    • Libra says:

      Her secret?? She may be sitting on it.

  3. Blogger says:

    Definitely massive doses of insecurity: “just throw more money at it!”

    In this case, those who didn’t turn up/couldn’t be bought says something. Apart from Bill Gates, no other billionaires were present?

    • FYI says:

      Oprah was there. She is a billionaire by now, yes? She can be bought, I guess!

      • Eurydice says:

        Oprah became a billionaire over 20 years ago.

      • Blogger says:

        Ah forgot about Oprah. Didn’t see too many photos of her at the wedding. What’s her connection with Bezos? The book club? Gayle and that rocket ship too.

      • Becks1 says:

        Oprah also uses Amazon now as the landing site for her Favorite Things each year, so there must be some sort of business relationship there.

      • Grace says:

        Oprah “jumped the shark” eons ago when we (the public) finally saw who she really was.

      • Wednesday Addams says:

        I feel embarrassed that I used to watch Oprah and was a fan.

      • Chaine says:

        Oprah gave us Dr. Oz who is helping destroy our healthcare and Dr. Phil who goes ridealong on ICE raids so yeah, she’s all in with this administration. Not surprised to see her palling around with Bezos and his blow up dollie.

    • MY3CENTS says:

      I’m guessing they also bought that Vogue cover.

  4. BlueSky says:

    “They invited/paid dozens of celebrities to show up to their wedding, they weren’t even surrounded by their closest friends (if they even have close friends) and the whole thing came across as miserable to some extent.”

    Someone said this on Threads and I agree “Jeff Bezos has transactional friends”

    • FYI says:

      Do y’all think they really paid people to be there? I don’t doubt it, I just wonder how anyone would be able to tell that a guest was paid. I guess Usher, because he DJ’d?
      No photographs of family members — like their kids — that I’ve seen, so is that why we’re thinking no close friends were there? Not sure who their close friends would be …

      • Nicki says:

        It’s likely all of their travel and lodging and expenses and extras were paid for. All they had to do was show up.

    • E.A says:

      They were alreay privately married before this event guessing family really close friends were present at that event. Also we only heard about celebrities at this event doesn’t mean they weren’t there. I really dislike this idea if famous people are there no nonfamous were present, we don’ tak about them because it doesn’t sell

    • Becks1 says:

      I don’t know if they paid people but this was definitely transactional as these celeb things go. People wanted to be seen at this and Bezos wanted the world to know that he’s friends with Oprah, Leo Dicaprio, Usher, and so on. In some ways it just feels so desperate, like he’s still trying to be accepted by the cool kids. Kind of like Elon.

  5. ThatGirlThere says:

    With all that money and all that influence they’re both just pick me’s. Insecure, inauthentic bozos like Drake. I’m surprised he wasn’t there too.

  6. Ciotog says:

    It seems that the ultra-rich are having a “who’s going to check me” moment. Time to check them.

    • Josephine says:

      It’s not just republicants using amazon. I think people want to be the type of person who stops using amazon but then prime day comes, or they want that cute dress made in China for $10, or they don’t want to run to the store. I get it, Amazon is convenient and sometimes one of the few options available for people, but I think most of us could dump amazon if we had the will to do it.

      • Henny Penny says:

        We quit Amazon after Bezos put his foot on the neck of the Washington Post and it honestly isn’t that difficult. I have had to go to the Amazon website to shop or find merchants that sell what I want, but then I either order directly from the vendor or I find a vendor who ships directly. It really isn’t that hard.

      • Betsy says:

        People’s willingness to continue to support the people who have their knees on our figurative neck – and with plenty of options, this isn’t a company town (yet) out in the sticks – pisses me off. These people have unchecked power because so many people can’t be bothered to make fairly simple changes. People still shop at Whole Foods.

        And if anyone replies to me it won’t be the people who can easily stop shopping at Amazon, it’ll be the hard luck case who can only source their cat’s insulin via Amazon or something equally un-rebuttable. But millions of people do as Josephine says: they’re just too effing lazy. I think the election was stolen, I think Harris won (for real. I am willing to throw verbal hands to that end, too). But I also think these billionaire losers continue to have power because even in simple, it doesn’t hurt people at all choices, they can’t be bothered. It’s enraging.

      • SarahCS says:

        I’d been scaling back for a while (a lot of our local independent shops sell ‘resist Amazon, shop local’ totes) and have now cancelled Prime and found alternative sources for anything I used to get on there. I will miss Audible and it doesn’t feel a lot better getting my audiobooks from Apple but I’ve switched over and it will be some time before I’ve read all the books on my kindle.

        I actually got a way better deal on the filter refills for our water filter jug by going straight to the company that makes them.

      • Becks1 says:

        @SarahCS I dont know if this is an option for you bc I know you’re not in the US but I get audiobooks from my library and so far its been fine. There aren’t as many options as I would like (there are thousands of options, just not necessarily the ones I want lol) but its been enough for me. and free! My library uses the Libby app.

    • Mslove says:

      Boycott Amazon. It would also send a message if all Amazon workers went on strike. Jeffy would crap his pants if that happened, lol.

  7. Brassy Rebel says:

    When the peasants with pitchforks rise up, these two better have their track shoes on. Between their Trump adjacency and the horrible working conditions at Amazon, anyone who was there while claiming they give a f*ck about people should be deeply and permanently ashamed.

  8. Nicole says:

    This is seriously giving Marie Antionette vibes. I love that the tech bros are so busy changing the world through STEM that they have no humanities knowledge and can learn from the lessons of history. How long will it take before the heavily armed people in the US start to really notice what’s happening and revolt?

    • Mightymolly says:

      Sadly the Americans most likely to be heavily armed are also the most indoctrinated. One of the foundational beliefs of white supremacy is that poor white men are empowered by the accomplishments of rich white men. It’s a lie but they embrace it.

  9. fwiw says:

    In that near-kiss picture, her lips don’t pucker but appear locked into a sneer.

  10. Giddy says:

    The manic displays of wealth were the height of vulgarity, as were the blow+up doll appearance of the bride, and the total lack of sincerity from the couple or their “friends”. They could have had an elegant wedding and then announced that to celebrate their new life together they were funding children’s feeding programs, or medical clinics from Appalachia to Africa, or filled any one of a thousand needs where their massive wealth would change lives. Instead of a wedding legacy of vulgarity they could have been seen as saviors of programs around the world, but no. When people show you who they are, believe them.

  11. Nuks says:

    Just imagine if Lauren had worn several truly interesting and beautiful outfits. Imagine if her wedding dress was graceful and forward-looking. It could’ve been a fashion event and she might have launched a new impression of herself and maybe inspired some fashion. They were so public with the whole thing, then chose such tacky personal taste. What a missed opportunity.

    Sydney Sweeney is the one coming out of this with fashion points. Not the bride.

    • FYI says:

      I award zero fashion points to Sydney Sweeney. None.

    • Jezz says:

      That is far and away the ugliest wedding dress ever. The sleeves make her arms look fat. The neckline makes her look even older than she is. The buttons are all wrong as is their placement. The bust is embarrassing. The material is in appropriate for summer in Italy. The fishtail mermaid tail cut is amateurish. This is highly unbeautiful.

    • Lucy says:

      She can afford a dress made out of angel wings and she picked this. If she’d come to the wedding as Titania from the 90s Midsummer Nights Dream (Michelle Pfeiffer! Stanley Tucci! Way too much fairy dust glitter highlight!) I would’ve respected it. It would’ve been a specific taste. Her actual taste is so stripper adjacent it’s boring. She dresses like Vivid entertainers at a museum event. They might as well have rented out The Venetian in Vegas, it would’ve fit every single thing about this wedding so much better, and would’ve showed some self awareness.

  12. Eurydice says:

    These people didn’t appear out of nowhere. The “cool kid” Kardashians are rich because people paid to watch their vulgarity. Stealing from Brandi, hanging onto Paris Hilton and making a sex tape brought Kim and her family a reality show and people ate it up. It’s a bit much to finance and celebrate vulgarity, to reward people who copy it, and then to complain about it.

  13. Grandma Susan says:

    The excesses of the rich and the cruelty of the trump regime are the reason I went to Etsy and bought a pair of guillotine earrings. Now I wear them any time I’m out in public. Oh, and I mean sincerely what the earrings only imply.

  14. fwiw says:

    I skimmed the Vogue article a few days ago and recall that Lauren said she is a changed person and she wants to “give back.” What in the world does that mean? She & Jeff blew $50 million on a wedding to display their wealth and to let her feel “like a princess.” Their money; their choice. But she’s got a lot of changing to do if she’s trying to compare herself to MacKenzie Scott.

  15. Veronica S. says:

    Nouveau riche is the term they’re looking for. That was the feel of the wedding. It’s the kind of tacky display you expect from somebody who just came into money and wants to assert their place in the hierarchy but doesn’t have the taste to back it. Bezos has been ultra wealthy for more than a decade now, so it feels even more out of place, much less given the current economic climate.

    I really have to wonder how his ex feels about this. She’s taken the smarter route to wealth and been fairly discreet and notably philanthropic. Feels like she’s got a better historical eye for what happens when the wealth disparity hits a certain extreme and people start going hungry.

  16. kelleybelle says:

    I just can’t get around those fakers of hers. She seems so proud of them.

  17. Henny Penny says:

    Once upon a time, many moons ago, I got some lip fillers because I have a very bad case of upper lipless white woman syndrome. The major problem I found with fillers was that my lips and face hurt when I kissed my husband and that’s just unacceptable.

    All I see when I look at these photos is a woman in pain who is mutilating herself in real time to look like a blow-up sex doll. I’m beyond certain that it hurts her like hell every time Bezos uses that mouth for its clearly designed function.

    The two of them are classless monsters

  18. Betsy says:

    I know so few Shakespearean quotes, but this one works here perfectly:

    “Seems, madam? Nay, it is; I know not ‘seems.’” These people are dirtbag trash. They can tart it up all they want, but they’re just dirtbags using their private ATVs to chew up the nature reserve cause it’s loud fun and they love it, woo.

    • FYI says:

      “Seems, madam? Nay, it is; I know not ‘seems.’”

      OHMYGOD, I LOVE THIS !!!! 💙 🇬🇧 📖

  19. Alice B. Tokeless says:

    “People who have a lot of money and feel secure in that don’t do these lavish displays of wealth. To your point, they do private things,” Exactly. As I said on a previous post, wealth goes to Torcello for their fetes. Private.

  20. QuiteContrary says:

    It’s all performative for these people. They don’t feel love; they perform it. They aren’t merely disgustingly wealthy; they have to parade their wealth.

    Hoping it’s what burns them in the end.

  21. Digital Unicorn says:

    These 2 have always been desperate to show off their ‘love’ – if you have to work hard to convince others then is it real? Probably not and its likely it won’t last – both are cheaters.

  22. Pam says:

    Hopefully they pay all their bills before they leave the country and not try and pull a trumper by leaving all the service folks (hotels, catering, flowers… etc) holding the bag!!!

    Tedious bunch, self-important lot…yawn!!

  23. L4Frimaire says:

    Nothing in this wedding looked good. The dress was basic, most of the guests aren’t their friends, everything seemed so desperate and attention seeking. Sick of everyone showing off their implants. Even some of the guests looked like this was more of a job than a celebration.

  24. J.Ferber says:

    I just can’t believe this multi-weeks wedding is actually over. I’m sure there will be an encore to come. Can these people ever get out of our faces?
    It was like a juggernaut. Next thing we’ll hear is she’s pregnant (yup) and there will be months more of build-up that none of us can stand anymore.

  25. Lily says:

    Given how poorly Amazon employees are treated, and how poorly employees in America are treated generally, and how the American dream is out of reach for many middle class workers, the wedding couple came off as two malignant narcissists telling the world “let them eat cake.” I want them to crawl in a hole somewhere and disappear for a long, long time.

  26. Sean says:

    Observers are exhausted wondering if they’ve spotted his head or one of her breasts.

Commenting Guidelines

Read the article before commenting.

We aim to be a friendly, welcoming site where people can discuss entertainment stories and current events in a lighthearted, safe environment without fear of harassment, excessive negativity, or bullying. Different opinions, backgrounds, ages, and nationalities are welcome here - hatred and bigotry are not. If you make racist or bigoted remarks, comment under multiple names, or wish death on anyone you will be banned. There are no second chances if you violate one of these basic rules.

By commenting you agree to our comment policy and our privacy policy

Do not engage with trolls, contrarians or rude people. Comment "troll" and we will see it.

Please e-mail the moderators at cbcomments at gmail.com to delete a comment if it's offensive or spam. If your comment disappears, it may have been eaten by the spam filter. Please email us to get it retrieved.

You can sign up to get an image next to your name at Gravatar.com Thank you!

Leave a comment after you have read the article

Save my name and email in this browser for the next time I comment