Venus Williams, 45, and Italian actor-model Andrea Preti, 37, have wed after a whirlwind romance. The couple first met at a Milan Fashion Week event in mid-2024 and quickly fell for each other. Venus later recalled that early on, “I just knew I was going to marry him”. A few months into their romance, the tennis champion faced a health scare (an adenomyoma diagnosis) and turned to Preti for support during surgery in Italy; an episode that deepened their bond. They became engaged in Tuscany on January 31, 2025, in a romantic poolside proposal under the stars. Venus confirmed her engagement during a post-match interview in July 2025. The couple quietly held their first wedding ceremony on September 18, 2025 on the island of Ischia, Italy, but because international paperwork delayed official registration, they planned a larger, second celebration in Florida.
A Weeklong Palm Beach Celebration
The main festivities unfolded in mid-December 2025 in Palm Beach, Florida, chosen as a nod to Williams’s home state. Wedding planner Jennifer Zabinski (who had also organized sister Serena Williams’s 2017 nuptials) put together a six-day celebration packed with events. The week began on a Monday with an all-day yacht party: Serena Williams gifted the newlyweds a chartered boat cruise, complete with food and 10–12 of the couple’s closest family and friends on board. “We started on Monday. Serena gave us this gift of a beautiful yacht… We had 10 to 12 of our closest family and friends… and we were singing, dancing, gossiping, and just enjoying each other,” Venus told Vogue.
Each day featured a pool party at the couple’s Palm Beach home. Other pre-wedding events included a boudoir-themed bridal shower (where Venus wore a Kim Kassas dress) on Tuesday, followed by a glamorous dinner that evening. On Wednesday, Preti hosted an Italian-themed dinner at Miami’s exclusive Sopra restaurant for about 35 guests. Thursday’s highlight was an “athletic day” of sports: friends and family enjoyed tennis, volleyball, dodgeball and even pickleball, reflecting the couple’s shared love of competition. In all, the celebration blended their “Italian and American families,” with roughly 25 of Preti’s relatives flying in to join the fun.
The Ceremonies: Courthouse and Home
The Palm Beach wedding featured two ceremonies. On the morning of Friday, Dec. 19, 2025, Venus and Andrea made it official in a private civil ceremony at the Miami-Dade County Courthouse. Venus arrived at 6:45 a.m. with a custom white Morilee New York gown; one of ten dresses made for her to try on and later slipped into a simple skirt-and-top with a chic headpiece to leave discreetly. Venus described the courthouse event as “beautiful, calm, sacred, exciting” and like “a dream”. Preti called it “very unique, emotional, and deep”; “the second-best day of my life,” he said.
Two days later, on Sunday, Dec. 21, 2025, the couple celebrated with their larger wedding ceremony at their Palm Beach estate. Venus walked down an outdoor aisle adorned in a sparkling custom Georges Hobeika gown; a design she tracked down in Paris – to the tune of Irama’s Italian song “Ovunque Sarai,” a piece Preti had once shared with her in their courtship. (“When it played, I started to cry like a little kid,” he later revealed.) Preti made his entrance with his mother to Jackson 5’s “I’ll Be There,” a song with special meaning for him. The couple exchanged personal vows written in both English and Italian, and recessed to Stevie Wonder’s “Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” Their first dance as husband and wife was to The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes for You.” After the ceremony, guests boarded a party bus for an after-party that lasted until 2 a.m. (Preti later joked he skipped the late-night fun to go tend to their dog.) The newlyweds described their wedding day as “the happiest, most beautiful, sweetest day”.
Fashion and Style Highlights
Venus Williams made headlines with multiple bridal looks throughout the festivities. For the courthouse ceremony, she wore a custom Morilee New York gown fittingly, Venus quipped that “they made 10 dresses, all custom… The dress I ended up wearing was just divine”, accessorized with classic bridal headwear. On the day of the home wedding, Venus stunned in a custom Georges Hobeika wedding dress (capturing “the essence of the Florida wedding,” she said), paired with diamond jewelry from Messika. She also changed into additional bridal outfits during the week, including designs by Natali & Meital, Veni Infantino, and Eve of Milady. Overall, Williams is reported to have modeled more than a dozen different looks over the week.
Her bridal party and family also played with fashion. In a bold twist on tradition, Venus had all the women in white: her sister/maid of honor Serena, sisters Isha and Lyndrea, their niece Justus, and even their mother Oracene all wore bridal-inspired white dresses or suits for the ceremony. (As one People writer noted, Venus seemed to intentionally waive the usual “no white” wedding guest rule.) Serena Williams in particular wore multiple outfits including a strapless ivory mermaid gown with cape and lace sleeves for the ceremony, helping to set a glamorous tone. The men on Andrea’s side dressed in more casual suits, while Venus’s sisters opted for tailored white ensembles. Hair and makeup for the multi-day event were done by Angela Meadows and Natasha Gross, and Venus credited her sister Isha with helping finalize the perfect hairstyle and dress pairing.
Guests and Notable Moments
The wedding was an intimate affair attended by the couple’s closest family and friends. In addition to Serena (who famously tweeted later, “My sister’s keeper… watching you step into this next chapter surrounded by love felt like watching the sun rise”), Venus was accompanied by sisters Isha and Lyndrea Price, niece Justus, and their mother Oracene. Preti’s side included around 25 of his relatives who traveled from Italy for the celebration. Celebrity friends were notably absent; the focus was on family and private festivities.
Memorable highlights included the yacht party on Monday, daily backyard pool gatherings, and lively games and dances each night. On Tuesday, the bridal party danced to Beyoncé hits and lip-synced in a playful battle, and Serena even appeared in a custom Beyoncé-inspired bodysuit for the festivities. The Sotorial (7:30 words). On Thursday, Serena wore a Natali & Meital blazer gown to a rehearsal dinner at Sopra, and the bridal party later played tetherball and ping-pong in tennis whites. During vows, each read part of their promises in both Italian and English, adding a personal, cross-cultural touch to the ceremony. Throughout the weekend, Williams and Preti made sure their personalities showed: they came downstairs to Stevie Wonder’s upbeat funk, and even capped off the night dancing to rap tunes by Sexyy Red and French Montana on the party bus.
Fan Reactions
News of Williams’s wedding was widely covered by fashion and celebrity media. Vogue published an in-depth slideshow on Dec. 23 detailing the five-day celebration. Major outlets like People, ABC’s Good Morning America, and E! News ran features recounting the events. Williams herself shared glimpses on Instagram: on Dec. 2, 2025, she posted intimate photos from her January engagement (including a snap with her beloved dog Henry) captioned “Engaged 1/31/25”. After the wedding, Serena Williams posted a heartfelt tribute to her sister on social media. Fashion commentators zeroed in on Serena’s white outfit, noting that Venus had coordinated an all-white dress code for the women.
Fans and followers flooded social media with congratulations. Although Venus’s wedding was low-key in terms of celebrity guest list, the high-profile nature of the couple (Williams being a tennis legend and fashion icon) made the multi-day nuptials a trending topic. One Yahoo/People blog noted that Serena “broke a major wedding-guest rule” by wearing white, a move that was widely discussed online. Overall, the coverage blended the spectacle of a fashion-driven celebration with the warmth of a family gathering.
Williams’s Palm Beach wedding fits into a busy year for celebrity nuptials. In 2025 alone, other stars tied the knot: pop star Selena Gomez married producer Benny Blanco in September 2025 (with friends like Taylor Swift and Jennifer Stone attending), and actress Kristen Stewart wed director Dylan Meyer in April. Williams’s ceremony echoed this era of lavish celebrations, even mirroring trends like multi-event weddings and designer bridal wardrobes. Media outlets grouped Venus’s wedding with a wave of A-list ceremonies, and it underscored her status not just as a sports champion but as a cultural figure whose personal milestones are major news.
In sum, Venus Williams’s wedding to Andrea Preti was a cinematic week of fashion, family and fun. Between the courtship story that captured headlines, the couture bridal gowns, and the sister-of-the-bride (Serena) stealing a few scenes, the event became a pop-culture moment of late 2025. The joyous celebration, blending American and Italian elements; left fans and media buzzing with congratulations and cemented its place alongside other high-profile weddings of the year.