*

Wedding festivities estimated to have cost around $50

million

*

Guests include Ivanka Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates

*

'No Space for Bezos' protesters march through central

Venice

*

Venice mayor says Bezos embodies Venetian business

mentality

(Updates with Bezos and Sanchez leaving the hotel for final

bash in paragraphs 1-7)

By Sara Rossi and Gavin Jones

VENICE, June 28 (Reuters) - Newlyweds Amazon founder

Jeff Bezos and journalist Lauren Sanchez left their luxury hotel

on Venice's Grand Canal on Saturday for a final night of

partying, crowning a three-day star-studded wedding

extravaganza.

Bezos, 61, and Sanchez, 55, exchanged rings on Friday

evening on the small island of San Giorgio, across the water

from Saint Mark's Square, accompanied by singing from Matteo

Bocelli, son of Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Bill Gates, Leonardo DiCaprio, Orlando Bloom, Tom Brady,

Jordan's Queen Rania, Oprah Winfrey, Kris Jenner and Kim and

Khloe Kardashian, as well as Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were

among the A-listers present.

Saturday's evening bash -- wrapping up celebrations for

200-250 guests estimated to have cost some $50 million -- was

due to take place in the Arsenale, a former medieval shipyard in

an eastern district of the lagoon city.

Around 1,000 people marched against the event on Saturday,

groups of activists and residents who object to the wedding and

to seeing Venice being gift-wrapped for the uber-wealthy.

Some guests were seen leaving the Gritti Palace hotel in

central Venice wearing their pyjamas, sometimes beneath

colourful dressing gowns, before boarding small boats to reach

the party.

Bezos and Sanchez had a more sober style. He was dressing a

black skirt and suit, while she had a soft-colour

off-the-shoulder dress. They kissed on the boat while greeting

those around them.

At the ceremony the bride wore a high-necked silhouette

dress and a tulle and lace veil by Dolce & Gabbana, which she

told magazine Vogue was based on Sophia Loren's dress to marry

Cary Grant in the 1958 film, Houseboat.

Sanchez was also wearing a pair of diamond earrings by Dolce

& Gabbana, which, according to Vogue, was lent to her in keeping

with the tradition that it brings good luck for a bride to wear

something borrowed.

Bezos, who is No. 4 on Forbes' global billionaires list,

donned a black tuxedo and bow tie over a white shirt.

BUSINESSES, POLITICIANS WELCOME EVENT

Friday's ceremony had no legal status under Italian law, a

senior city hall official told Reuters, suggesting the couple

may have previously wed legally in the United States to avoid

the bureaucracy associated with an Italian marriage.

While some residents and activists raged against Bezos as a

symbol of inequality and arrogance, Venetian businesses and

political leaders welcomed the luxury nuptials, hailing them as

major boost for the local economy.

"Those who protest are in contradiction with the history of

Venice, which is a history of relations, contacts and business,"

Mayor Luigi Brugnaro told Reuters.

"Bezos embodies the Venetian mentality. He is more Venetian

than the protesters," said centre-right mayor, adding that he

hoped Bezos, who donated 3 million euros ($3.51 million) to

local institutions, would return to the city to do business.

Brugnaro said Bezos had attached no conditions to holding

his wedding celebrations in Venice, and City Hall had only

learned about his donations after they had already been made.

Bezos, Amazon's ( AMZN ) executive chair, got engaged to Sanchez in

2023, four years after the collapse of his 25-year marriage to

novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott.

($1 = 0.8552 euros)

(Writing by Gavin Jones and Angelo Amante; Editing by Alvise

Armellini, Alexandra Hudson andcSandra Maler)