Bezos's Venice wedding celebrations begin with star-studded party after fresh protests

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's star-studded wedding celebrations in Venice have begun, with VIP guests including the Kardashians descending on the Italian city.

The billionaire Amazon founder and his journalist fiancee waved to onlookers as they left a luxury hotel to travel to their pre-wedding reception by water taxi on Thursday evening. Hollywood star Orlando Bloom was seen flashing a peace sign to fans as he left Venice's Gritti Palace Hotel and he was soon followed by TV presenter Oprah Winfrey, who smiled and waved.

Kim and Khloe Kardashian travelled to the reception with their mother Kris Jenner - who snapped a picture of the pair on a water taxi - and other notable figures in town for the nuptials include Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner. Some 200-250 A-list guests from showbusiness, politics and finance are expected to attend the events, with the wedding and its parts estimated to cost €40m-€48m (£34m-£41m).

Bezos, his soon-to-be wife and their famous guests have taken over numerous locations in the city, with the couple staying in the luxury Aman hotel, where rooms go for at least €4,000 per night. The first of the weekend's many wedding parties is taking place in the cloisters of Madonna dell'Orto, a medieval church that hosts masterpieces by 16th century painter Tintoretto.

While the couple and their A-list guests were all smiles, some in Venice are not happy about the wedding - with protesters seeing it as an example of the city being gift-wrapped for ultra-rich outsiders. Read more: Why are activists protesting the wedding? An activist climbed one of the poles in the main St Mark's Square on Thursday, unfurling a banner which said: "The 1% ruins the world." Elsewhere, a life-size mannequin of Bezos clutching an Amazon box was dropped into one of the city's famous canals.

In a bid to keep demonstrators away from Thursday's party, the city council banned pedestrians and water traffic from the area surrounding the venue, from 4.30pm local time to midnight. The couple will exchange their vows on Friday, on the small island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark's Square.

Another party will follow on Saturday - the venue for which was changed at the last-minute earlier this week..