Lauren Sanchez and her billionaire beau Jeff Bezos have shrugged off anti-capitalism protestors with a rowdy foam party on board a $500million superyacht to kick off their opulent wedding-week festivities.
The couple and a host of celebrity friends will descend upon Venice this week ahead of the highly anticipated June 27 nuptials, greeted by anti-capitalist demonstrators vowing to ‘block the canals’ and prevent the wedding from going ahead.
But the Amazon founder, 61, and his soon-to-be-wife, 55, didn’t let the backlash get them down, stripping down to their swimsuits for a soapy foam party on Bezos’ superyacht Koru on Sunday.
Pictures obtained by DailyMail.com of the lavish celebration show the loved-up couple covered in little more than soap suds as they relished in the summer sunshine.
The couple partied off the island of Cres in Croatia in a final pitstop before arriving in Italy for their long-awaited wedding, more than two years after Bezos proposed on board the superyacht while it was docked near the Cannes Film Festival.
While they spent most of the afternoon celebrating with friends, the soon-to-be-newlyweds managed to find pockets of intimate downtime, pictured with their arms wrapped around one another and beaming in the foam pit.
Both Sanchez and Bezos were mindful of the UV rays, wearing hats and sunglasses, while the bride wore an ombre black and red string bikini and the groom wore blue and black swimming trunks.
A ‘Happy Birthday’ sign was pictured hanging from the yacht, amid reports the festivities were to celebrate Lauren’s son Evan’s 19th birthday.
The rowdy party saw young guests diving off the back of the yacht into the water below, utilizing the stand up paddle boards on board and ferried to and from shore on smaller boats.
Other guests took the opportunity to relax, basking in the sunlight on one of the many day beds available on the top floor of the yacht.
According to an insider, a police boat briefly approached the vessel during the festivities, but quickly moved on.
A relaxed-looking Sanchez and Bezos are in Europe ahead of their nuptials, which are expected to be a week-long affair estimated to be costing roughly $15 to $20 million.
Ahead of their arrival in Venice, impassioned signs reading ‘No space for Bezos’ and ‘Veniceland: A playground fit for an oligarch’ have been plastered across the region, hinting that residents want Bezos and Sanchez to take their multimillion-dollar wedding elsewhere.
Demonstrators have also been plotting to clog up streets and canals to throw off the wedding’s events and hinder the roughly 200 guests from getting around the city.
Federica Toninello, who is helping to organize one of the coordinated protests, told the New York Times that she has ‘moles’ who are leaking details of the upcoming events.
The group has received intel that one of the key events will take place at Misericordia.
‘Bezos will never get to the Misericordia,’ she told a crowd of about 300.
‘We will line the streets with our bodies, block the canals with lifesavers, dinghies and our boats.’
Among protestors’ biggest gripes is that tourists flocking to Venice have contributed to soaring housing costs which make it near impossible for ‘ordinary Venetians’ to live in the region.
And the Bezos-Sanchez wedding has coincided with peak season in Venice, meaning hotels of all budgets are nearing capacity with tens of thousands of visitors arriving daily.
But the couple’s wedding organizers, Lanza & Baucina Limited, earlier spoke out on their high-profile clients’ behalf, hitting back at suggestions that the couple have not been respectful of the locals during the planning process.
‘From the outset, instructions from our client and our own guiding principles were abundantly clear: the minimizing of any disruption to the city, the respect for its residents and institutions and the overwhelming employment of locals in the crafting of the events,’ Lanza & Baucina Limited said in a statement to Page Six.
‘Before the recent news of protests arose, we had worked for there to be minimal negative impact or disruption to the lives of Venetians and the city’s visitors.’
The company added that Bezos and Sanchez have donated funds to various Venice charities in the months leading up to the nuptials.
Bezos and Sanchez have also gifted funds on behalf of their guests, according to the report.
The high-end wedding planning company has worked with stars including George and Amal Clooney, and Salma Hayek and François-Henri Pinault.
Mayor Luigi Brugnaro also advocated for Bezos and Sanchez, telling The Associated Press: ‘We are very proud.
‘I don’t know if I will have time, or if he will, to meet and shake hands, but it’s an honor that they chose Venice. Venice once again reveals itself to be a global stage.’
The highly anticipated ceremony is just one of three formal events – all at different locations.
It is believed that on June 26, there will be a gala at a private cloister along the iconic Lid, possibly at Chiostro della Madonna dell’Orto.
And on June 28 there will be an extraordinary party at a church, one source claimed.
The insider confirmed guests should be steadily arriving in the country over the next few days and will likely leave by June 29.
The guest list is thought to have less than 200 people, with A-listers like Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner, Katy Perry, Orlando Bloom and even members of the Trump family thought to be invited
A-listers Lady Gaga and Elton John are set to perform.
‘Lauren wanted some big talent to sing for them and it just doesn’t get any bigger than Gaga and Elton,’ a source previously told DailyMail.com.
‘It also helps that Gaga and Elton are good friends and were happy to do it together, which is cool. It will be like a mini vacation for the besties.’
Around 60 of Venice’s water taxis are reserved for the week, with some of the 400 gondolas on the island out of commission as well, according to the source.
