A tour guide hired to welcome guests to the $20 million Venice wedding of Amazon boss Jeff Bezos to Lauren Sanchez has inadvertently given the game away after being snapped with a clipboard of names.
Beatrice Bavato, a freelance tour guide, was photographed as she waited for guests and staff from London based wedding planners Lanza & Baucina in the arrivals hall at the lagoon city’s airport.
The clipboard she was holding listed names, flight numbers and hotel destinations for some of the 200 guests due to arrive at the iconic Italian city in the next few days for what has been dubbed the wedding of the decade.
The list also suggests that the bride suffered a last minute stressful cancellation: her first choice nail artist is marked in biro as a ‘no show’.
Among those listed on red faced Beatrice’s clipboard were Mike and Beth George arriving on a British Airways flight from London and then being transferred to the Al Redentore luxury apartment complex.
Mr George was a former Amazon executive who became president of the Bezos Academy, a network of tuition-free preschools found by Jeff Bezos, and he previously led the Echo and Alexa teams at Amazon.
Bezos Academy is part of the Bezos Day One Fund, which focuses on early childhood education and homelessness, and he stepped down as president in October 2024 but has remained good friends with Bezos.
Also, on poor Beatrice’s board, just above her smart Apple Watch, were New York based jewellery designer Sandra Leong and her philanthropist husband Robert Gelfond, who had arrived on a Delta Airlines flight from New York.
They were due to be transferred to a stunning £1000 a night hotel which is where several other high profile A list guests will be staying.
When he was starting out Bezos pitched his ideas to several investors including Bob Gelfond, who was a former colleague of the now billionaire, and has also had a long career in book publishing.
Mr Gelfond’s father famously advised him not to invest in a speculative start-up like Amazon but he didn’t follow the suggestion and has backed him helping Bezos secure his vast wealth.
Others on the guest list include Elana Jassy, wife of Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, who were due to land on a connecting flight from London.
The couple live in a stately five bedroom six bathroom manor house built in1906 in Seattle’s hip Capitol Hill district.
Interestingly publicly available records reveal that Mrs Jassy donated $250 to the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders in 2016 – an n outspoken and staunch critic of Amazon.
He introduced the Stop Bezos Act in 2018, which required large employers to pay the government additional tax that would cover worker benefits and in October that year Bezos announced Amazon was raising its minimum wage to $15.
Later that year she donated a further $750 to Hilary Clinton’s bid for the White House after she won the Democratic nomination.
Others due to be picked up at Venice airport included Lauren’s hair and make-up staff of Sophie Gutterman, Buster Knight and Laura Mele – the former styled Lauren’s hair before her recent trip into space.
According to her Linkedin CV, Beatrice has been working as a tour guide in Venice for ten years after graduating from the city’s Ca Foscari University.
Her profile reads:’ My experience as a tour guide has given me the possibilities to improve my communication skills, thanks to constant contact with the public in multi cultural settings.
‘Also, from the outset I have perfected my organising capacity both individually and as a team. I enjoy dynamic work and I know how to cope with stressful situations.
‘I believe that every experience can teach you something and that’s why I like to be at the forefront and try and learn something new from every situation.’
Also on the itinerary were the names of many working on the lavish event, giving a sense of the scale of the army of support staff working on the wedding, particularly for the bride.
That late ‘no show’ international nail artist was Iram Shelton – it’s unclear why she pulled out or who will replace her.
But the most intriguing of the ancillary guests is Samuel Horowitz – believed to be a New York-based senior designer and stylist with Dolce and Gabbana .
The design firm is said to have supplied and astonishing 27 outfits for Sanchez to use across the whole week: have they designed her actual wedding dress?
Certainly this wouldn’t be a huge surprise as Sanchez is known to be a fan of the Italian label not least since they gave nepo baby modelling work to her son Nikko last year.
Other beauty workers include make-up artist Laura Mele who has posted her work on Sanchez previously – giving her what is described as a ‘babydoll glam’ look. And a second make-up specialist, Buster Knight, is also on the list.
Her hairdresser also hasn’t let her down: stylist Sophie Gutterman from California is listed as coming.
Perhaps the most surprising is Mindy Lamour, a Californian stylist who dresses drage queens and specialises in bespoke corsets – a garment Sanchez is known to love.
Another guest is Justin Stein, also known as Justin Jessa who is a singer/songwriter who has written for acts like BackStreet Boys and Armin van Buuren. Could it be that he has written a song for the event or might perform?
Many workers were credited as ‘Griffin staff’ which is thought to refer to a high end US firm that specialises in ‘wedding scenology and décor’ – who have perhaps been assisting the main wedding planners, L&B.
One guest from London is Cedric Grolet, a patisserie chef who works at the Berkeley Hotel.
There is also film director David Sabshon – who may have been tasked with shooting the wedding video – photographer Chloe Ramirez, art curator Clara Scola and Shai Rappaport, an events manager.
The presence of sculptor Edourado Tresoldi poses another intriguing question – will the couple’s happy day be recorded in three dimensions?
