Despite a lavish three-day celebration in Venice, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez were already legally married weeks earlier in the U.S., according to insiders

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez may have kicked off a lavish three-day celebration in Venice on Thursday, but behind the scenes, the couple has already tied the knot - weeks ago.

According to a well-placed insider involved in the event planning: “They have been married for at least a month, more than a month. The marriage is fully legal and took place in America under American law.”

Though this week’s festivities have been widely billed as their wedding, the source revealed it’s purely ceremonial. “When they were planning the wedding, they were clear about the fact that they were already secretly married,” the insider said.

Because the legal marriage has already occurred, there was no need for a license in Italy. “There is no application for a wedding licence from the couple because it was not required. Whatever happens at the wedding on Friday, it will not be a wedding.

"Under Italian law, it will not be a wedding celebration, any vows said or rings exchanged will have no legal meaning," they told Mail Online.

The same source added that Bezos himself confirmed the legal union and noted the pair had arranged a prenuptial agreement to safeguard his $244 billion fortune.

Bezos and Sánchez reportedly married privately in the U.S., well before the high-profile Venetian celebration began.

The couple arrived in Venice this week 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 kicked 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.

The Mirror has approached the representatives of Jeff for comment on this story.

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