Jeff Bezos and bride Lauren pictured arriving in Italy ahead of lavish wedding

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez have arrived in Venice, Italy, ahead of their lavish wedding celebrations, which will take place over the next few days. A helicopter picked Bezos and his bride-to-be up from his superyacht Koru's support ship, the Albeona.

They were docked just off the coast of Croatia, with the chopped taking 61-year-old Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, 55, to the city of Venice. It landed in the Venice Lido, which is where the annual Venice Film Festival takes place.

To kick proceedings off on Thursday night, a casual welcome dinner will be held at the 14th Century Madonna dell'Orto church. Local sources claim security is ultra-tight, turning the stunning city into a "fortress-like operation".

The ceremony was expected to take place at the Scuola Grande della Misericordia, an historic 16th-century building in the city centre. But the No Space for Bezos campaign group claim the couple scrambled to change their plans, after activists threatened to block the canals with inflatable crocodiles to stop their guests from attending.

Instead, it's been moved to Arsenale, a shipyard complex which will be near-impossible for protestors to get to. Lauren Sanchez and her husband-to-be arrived, with Lauren wearing oversized black sunglasses and a simple black halterneck dress.

Meanwhile, their high-profile guests have begun to descend on the city. Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka arrived with her husband Jared Kushner. She wore a green dress and canvas sunhat as she arrived by boat after a day of sightseeing. The couple's three children, Arabella Rose, Joseph Frederick and Theodore James, joined them.

Other guests to arrive early include Jeff's adoptive father Miguel Bezos, as well as Orlando Bloom, Katy Perry, Kris Jenner and Kim Kardashian. Just 11 people live on the island and its only dwelling is a modest five-bedroom home, previously the guesthouse to a convent which was part of a long-destroyed monastery complex.

But tension is growing on mainland Venice, where most of the A-listers are staying. Campaigners Everyone Hates Elon (EHE) and Greenpeace protesters laid out a huge 20x20m banner near to where the Amazon founder will marry his partner.

Set out in the city's famous St Mark's Square, the message reads: "IF YOU CAN RENT VENICE FOR YOUR WEDDING YOU CAN PAY MORE TAX." The groups are critical of Mr Bezos, who is the second-richest man in the world, as he is reported to pay a 1.1% true tax rate.

A spokesperson from EHE explained: "As governments talk about hard choices and struggle to fund public services, Jeff Bezos can afford to shut down half a city for days on end just to get married. Just weeks ago, he spent millions on an 11-minute space trip. If there was ever a sign billionaires like Bezos should pay wealth taxes, it's this.

"While ordinary people struggle to pay the bills, there are more billionaires than ever before. These two things are obviously connected - they're getting richer at our expense. It's not rocket science: tax billionaires like Jeff Bezos now."

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