From Clooney to Bezos, VIP weddings are worth a million a year to the Venice City Council
More and more cities are equipping themselves with offices for major events, which also serve to put real estate to good use
by Barbara Ganz
3' min read
3' min read
Not only Bezos and Sanchez: not even a month ago, Venice hosted another wedding equally important in terms of economic investment and organisational commitment, but it was not talked about because the couple, from Germany, was decidedly less glamorous. Fabrizio D'Oria, director of Vela - the municipality's company dedicated to the promotion, organisation, realisation and management of shows and events with cultural purposes of tourist attraction or recreation - is not too upset about Mr Amazon's wedding: 'We are used to managing the city's main traditional events such as Carnevale, Regata Storica, Festa del Redentore, and events like the Boat Show. A wedding is just a wedding'.
This one, too, is aiming for the maximum: 'Renting a location at the Venice Arsenal (the spaces are those to the north, opposite those of the Biennale, ed.) costs a minimum of 30 thousand euro for a "tesa", i.e. the minimum foreseeable space, of 600/700 square metres. Here, the rental is worth 200 thousand, but the induced activity in the area is five times as much: before the event there is the set-up phase, which began last Saturday, and after the wedding there will be the disassembly, for another three days or so. Scene hire companies, transporters, fitters, caterers and more are at work'.
Vip weddings are worth about a million a year for Vela: pioneers of the genre were Amal Alamuddin and George Clooney, on Saturday 27 September 2014, with a party that lasted three days; then on 29 May 2023, the location chosen for the wedding ceremony between Chloe Stroll, daughter of the Formula 1 tycoon, and snowboarder Scotty James was the Pescheria, and Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas, Flavio Briatore and the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson, among others, arrived in Venice. VIP weddings and birthdays, such as those of entrepreneurs and managers whose names are often unknown: "In these cases it is usual to buy out entire hotels, the same formula chosen by Bezos who booked Gritti and Aman in their entirety," explains D'Oria, who has followed less mundane but extremely more complex events in terms of organisation and security, from Pope Francis' visit to the lagoon to the G20 Economics Summit in 2021, attended by 65 international delegations.
On the site of Vela there is information for those who want to "realise a memorable event in Venice", with the company's willingness to "be an ideal partner to accompany you in the organisation of your event, identifying solutions that align with your ideas or format, both in the single service and in the "All Inclusive" and/or "availability Made" options". The offer starts with the city's main Venice Convention Centre and includes the Arsenale, Pescheria di Rialto, Gran Teatro La Fenice, Ca' Vendramin Calergi and Musei Civici.
More and more cities are equipping themselves with offices for major events, which also serve to put real estate to good use: Vela, in addition to the monumental complex of the North Arsenal and the Pescheria di Rialto fish market during non-market hours, also manages the congress facilities on the Venice Lido (Palazzo del Cinema and Palazzo del Casinò) and is the promoter of all city marketing activities aimed mainly at tourists and companies, with a coordinating and supporting role in the realisation of 'special' events in public areas such as concerts, fashion shows (such as the Dolce and Gabbana show in St. Mark's Square in August 2021), and increasingly frequent film and television shoots. Among others, the filming of 'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning' concentrated in various locations including St. Mark's Square, the Doge's Palace and surrounding areas such as Campo San Giacomo dell'Orio and the Castello district.
