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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nVenus Williams and her partner, Andrea Preti, have officially tied the knot, with an initial ceremony followed by a five-day celebration in Florida. <\/p>\n
The 45-year-old tennis star opened up about her lavish September 18 wedding ceremony in Italy, where Preti was raised.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had this dream to do our wedding in Italy,\u201d she said during an interview with Vogue<\/em>, published Tuesday. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t have enough time to do the paperwork, because I\u2019m a foreigner, it can take about eight months. So we decided to have a second wedding.\u201d<\/p>\nTheir next round of wedding festivities took place in mid-December in Palm Beach, Florida, where she and her sister, Serena Williams, grew up. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey always say weddings go so fast, and they do,\u201d Williams, who confirmed her engagement in July, added. \u201cWe started on Monday. Serena gave us this gift of a beautiful yacht, and she arranged all the food, everything. We had 10 to 12 of our closest family and friends who were in town on the boat, and we were singing, dancing, gossiping, and just enjoying each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Venus Williams and Andrea Preti had a lavish wedding ceremony in Italy in September (Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe rest of the week continued with four more wedding celebrations in Florida. Family and friends enjoyed a bridal shower on the back patio of the couple\u2019s home one night, complete with an Asian fusion dinner, followed by Williams and her bridal party dancing to Beyonc\u00e9 songs. <\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Williams, Preti, and their closest family and friends went down to Miami, Florida, for a romantic dinner. That was then followed by a sports day, filled with volleyball, tennis, dodgeball, wheelbarrow races, and pickleball. <\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to be the team captain\u2014I just wanted to be on the team with my husband,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n
The five-day celebration came to an end Friday with the couple\u2019s courthouse wedding in Palm Beach at 6:45 a.m. They chose this time so they could have the entire courthouse to themselves. <\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t describe how beautiful, calm, sacred, exciting, and exalting it was,\u201d Williams said. \u201cIt was just a dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, the courthouse ceremony was very unique, emotional, and deep. It was the second-best day of my life,\u201d Preti added, noting that the best day of his life was their Italian wedding.<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Venus Williams and Andrea Preti met in 2024 during Milan Fashion Week (Getty Images for Vogue)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nWilliams and Preti were first romantically linked in July 2024, after they were spotted on a boat in Nerano, Italy, along the Amalfi Coast. They were rumored to be engaged in February, with photos, obtained by People, <\/em>showing Williams wearing a sparkling diamond ring on her left hand during a tennis practice session.<\/p>\nDuring her interview with Vogue<\/em>, Williams spoke about the start of her relationship, noting that she and Preti met in 2024 during Milan Fashion Week. After they spent some time texting and meeting up in London, Williams invited Preti to meet her family. <\/p>\nShe also confirmed that she got engaged at the start of this year, with the model popping the question to the tennis pro on January 31, 2025, in Tuscany, while he suggested they wish on a star. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe asked, \u2018Do you want to hear my wish?\u2019\u201d she explained. \u201cI said, \u2018Yes, great!\u2019 And when I turned around, he had the ring in his pocket. He said, \u2018Do you want to marry me?\u2019 And I couldn\u2019t stop jumping up and down and laughing and smiling because that\u2019s what I do when I win big matches.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Venus Williams and her partner, Andrea Preti, have officially tied the knot, with an initial ceremony followed by a five-day celebration in Florida. The 45-year-old tennis star opened up about her lavish September 18 wedding ceremony in Italy, where Preti was raised. \u201cWe had this dream to do our wedding in Italy,\u201d she said during an interview with Vogue, published Tuesday. \u201cBut we didn\u2019t have enough time to do the paperwork, because I\u2019m a foreigner, it can take about eight months. So we decided to have a second wedding.\u201d Their next round of wedding festivities took place in mid-December in Palm Beach, Florida, where she and her sister, Serena Williams, grew up. \u201cThey always say weddings go so fast, and they do,\u201d Williams, who confirmed her engagement in July, added. \u201cWe started on Monday. Serena gave us this gift of a beautiful yacht, and she arranged all the food, everything. We had 10 to 12 of our closest family and friends who were in town on the boat, and we were singing, dancing, gossiping, and just enjoying eac…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}