The Moment
Venus Williams is officially, officially married to Italian actor and model Andrea Preti – again – and this time the party came with a yacht courtesy of little sister Serena.
Over the weekend in Palm Beach, Florida, the 45-year-old tennis legend and her 37-year-old partner celebrated a second wedding ceremony surrounded by close friends and family. The couple already wed in Italy in September, but because the paperwork there can take months to finalize, they opted for a stateside do-over before the holidays.
According to recent wedding coverage and a new bridal interview, the pair stretched the festivities into a six-day marathon: dinners, pool parties, and one very casual “oh by the way, my sister gave us a yacht” moment. Venus said Serena arranged the boat, the food, the whole vibe – and about a dozen of their nearest and dearest spent the day out on the water singing, dancing, and, in Venus’s very relatable words, gossiping.
During the ceremony itself, Venus read her vows in both English and Italian, then partied into the early hours. She later posted photos from the big day on Instagram with a cheeky caption: “Guess what I did this weekend?” followed by the confirmation: “Yes, that’s right! We got married! It was and still is a dream!”
All about Venus Williams & Andrea Preti’s lavish wedding week: 2 ceremonies, 10 dresses, Serena Williams’ yacht gift & Beyoncé surprise https://t.co/vTZC3wU18D pic.twitter.com/VYzsQqkVij
— Sportskeeda Tennis (@SK__Tennis) December 23, 2025
The Take
Some celebrity weddings are about the dress. Some are about the guest list. Venus and Andrea’s Palm Beach sequel? It’s about the flex of midlife love plus sister power.
First, can we talk about that yacht gift? Plenty of us have gotten a toaster or a check in a nice card. Serena’s over here handing out fully catered floating wedding annexes. It’s the most on-brand Williams sisters move: when they show up for you, they don’t just show up – they bring an extra court.
What I love is how deeply normal the whole circus actually sounds under the sparkle. Yes, there’s a yacht. But it’s not posed grid photos and carefully staged content; it’s singing, gossiping, and family coming in from Italy right before Christmas. Remove the price tag and it’s basically a really fancy version of your cousin’s backyard wedding week.
There’s also something quietly radical about Venus doing all this at 45, after years of insisting she was perfectly happy being single. She meets a guy at a fashion show she nearly skipped, has a breakfast date in London, and suddenly she’s one of those people saying, “I just knew.” This is the same woman who has spent her entire adult life being the example of discipline and delay – delaying fun, delaying rest, delaying anything that got between her and a Grand Slam trophy. And now she’s letting herself be soft in public.
The analogy that keeps coming to mind? It’s like watching a career workhorse finally get traded to the team she actually wanted to play for all along. She’s still grinding – she’s just doing it with someone who brings her coffee and tells her to keep going when she’d rather coast.
And that matters, because Venus has been brutally honest about the toll her health has taken. She spent last year prepping for fibroid surgery instead of tournaments, then dragged herself back to the court 16 months later. When she casually dropped “my fiance is here and he really encouraged me to keep playing” after a comeback win, it wasn’t just sweet – it was a reminder that even the most disciplined among us sometimes need a personal hype squad.
So yes, it’s a splashy celebrity wedding. But it’s also a woman in her mid-40s saying: I did the career, I survived the health scares, I took my time – and I still get the big, cinematic love story and the yacht week. Honestly? That’s the fairytale reboot I’ll tune in for.
Receipts
- Confirmed: Venus Williams and Andrea Preti held a second wedding ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida, over a six-day celebration with family and friends, following an earlier ceremony in Italy in September, per recent wedding coverage.
- Confirmed: Venus described receiving a yacht as a wedding gift from sister Serena, who also handled the food and hosting for a day of onboard celebrations, in a newly published bridal interview.
- Confirmed: Venus shared wedding photos and confirmed “We got married!” in Instagram posts and stories, calling the day a dream.
- Confirmed: Venus and Andrea met at a fashion show in Milan in 2024, later had a breakfast date in London, and she has said she “just knew” she would marry him.
- Confirmed: Venus publicly referred to Andrea as her fiance after a comeback victory at the DC Open, 16 months after stepping away from competition for fibroid surgery, telling the crowd he encouraged her to keep playing.
- Unverified (but reported): Exact guest list details and which celebrities attended the Palm Beach celebration beyond close family have not been officially confirmed by Venus or Andrea.
Sources: Recent wedding news reports (Dec. 23, 2025); bridal magazine interview with Venus Williams (Dec. 2025); Venus Williams’ official Instagram posts and stories (Dec. 2025).
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
For anyone who hasn’t kept a running scoreboard on the Williams sisters since the 1990s, here’s the quick refresher. Venus Williams is one of tennis’s all-time greats, a multiple Grand Slam champion who, alongside her younger sister Serena, reshaped the sport and its culture. While Serena married tech entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian and started a family years ago, Venus stayed single, focused on tennis and business ventures, and was very open about not being in any rush to pair off.
Then came a rough stretch: health issues including uterine fibroids, surgery, and time away from the tour. In the middle of that, Venus met Andrea Preti – an Italian actor and model – at a fashion show in Milan in 2024. The relationship went from chance meeting to engagement over the next year, with their first wedding ceremony in Italy in September and now this official stateside celebration in Florida.
What’s Next
Now that the paperwork is catching up with the romance, the next chapter is less about ceremonies and more about balance. Venus has already hinted that her perspective on tennis has shifted – when your recent past includes major surgery, a 16-month break, and falling in love, you don’t see the baseline the same way.
Expect more glimpses of the couple as they blend families across continents, especially around holidays and big tournaments. It will be interesting to see whether Venus leans into a lighter playing schedule, more business and fashion projects, or even more public-facing work with Andrea by her side. And yes, people will absolutely be watching to see if they expand their family – though for now, the only clear plan is: enjoy being newlyweds who just pulled off a bi-continental, two-wedding year.
Either way, Venus has already secured the rare combo: a legendary career, her health on the upswing, and someone who looked at her in a wedding dress and called her a goddess while sobbing in the best possible way. That’s a pretty strong end-of-year scoreline.
Your turn: How do you feel about big second weddings later in life – over-the-top celebration, or would you rather keep it low-key and save the yacht for a regular vacation?
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