Venus Williams and Andrea Preti’s Wedding, 2025
A wedding in Italy, a second one at home in Palm Beach, four gowns in a single day and a yacht from her sister. Venus Williams married the way she plays: with total commitment.
Venus Williams did not so much have a wedding as a season of them. She and Andrea Preti married first in Italy in September 2025 and then, three months later, at their home in Palm Beach, in a five-day celebration that included a yacht party given by her sister Serena, a dinner in Miami, a multi-sport tournament and, on the wedding day alone, four gowns. It was exuberant, and it was also practical: the second wedding existed because the first had not left time for the paperwork.
| At a glance | |
|---|---|
| Date | September 2025 (Italy); December 2025 (Palm Beach, Florida) |
| Place (ceremony) | Italy; the couple’s home in Palm Beach, Florida |
| Reception | Palm Beach, within a five-day celebration that included a yacht party and a dinner in Miami |
| The dress (designer) | Georges Hobeika haute couture (Palm Beach ceremony), among four wedding-day looks |
The couple
Andrea Preti is an actor, model and restaurant owner. He and Williams met in June 2024 at a Gucci show during Milan Fashion Week; he later said that when he saw her she looked “beautiful, like a goddess.” Williams announced their engagement in July 2025 in a post-match interview, crediting her fiancé with encouraging her to keep playing: “My fiancé is here, and he really encouraged me.”
The ceremony
The couple first married in Italy in September 2025. But, as Williams explained, they “didn’t have enough time to do the paperwork” there, so they held a second wedding at their home in Palm Beach three months later, signing the required documents at the local courthouse the day before. They wrote their own vows.
The dress
Williams told Vogue she wanted “a dress that I thought Andrea would love and that was magical and perfect for a Florida wedding.” Over the five days she wore more than ten outfits, four of them on the wedding day itself. She began in a halter-neck column dress with a cape by Alexandra Grecco, got ready in a lace and silk gown by Eve of Milady, married in a haute couture Georges Hobeika gown with a lace bustier, and danced at the afterparty in a high-low lace dress by Veni Infantino. For other brides who changed through the day, see Serena Williams’s wedding and our guide to celebrity wedding dresses.
The reception
The festivities opened on a yacht, a gift from Serena Williams, with about a dozen of the couple’s closest family and friends; over the course of the celebrations, some 25 of Preti’s family and friends from Italy were among the guests. “Serena gave us this gift of a beautiful yacht, and she arranged all the food, everything,” Venus told Vogue, and recalled the day as one of “singing, dancing, gossiping.” Preti organized a dinner for guests in Miami and a tournament across several sports, and at one point in the celebrations Serena revived the outfit she had worn in Beyoncé’s “Sorry” video for a dance battle.
Serena had been deeply involved in the planning. Before the wedding she said that Venus had sent her fourteen possible hairstyles for an opinion, and that she had returned her verdict, organized into a PDF, within half an hour.
Why it mattered
The wedding showed, above all, how close the Williams sisters are. It also showed a sensible way to handle an international marriage: celebrate where it matters emotionally, then make it legal where the paperwork is simple. And it was a reminder that a wedding need not be confined to a single day or a single place to feel coherent.
Borrow the idea
Check the paperwork before you book abroad. Marrying legally in another country can require documents, translations and residency periods. If time is short, do what this couple did: celebrate abroad, then sign at home. See destination weddings.
Give your sibling a real job. A sister or brother who hosts one event, such as a welcome party or a brunch, becomes part of the wedding rather than a guest at it. Serena’s help with the hairstyles is the other model: ask one trusted person for quick, honest opinions on the small decisions, and you will make them faster.
Write your own vows. Keep them to two minutes and read them aloud to a friend first. Our guide to writing wedding vows shows how.
Plan activities, not just meals. A tennis match, a boat trip or a friendly tournament gives guests at a multi-day wedding something to do together. Schedule them for the mornings, keep them optional, and make sure there is shade and water.
Written and edited by the Today’s Weddings editors. How we research and check what we publish is set out in our editorial standards. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
