Sean Parker Says He and Wife Are Receiving Backlash After Lavish Wedding

By Stephen M. Silverman

06/19/2013 at 03:25 PM EDT

Alexandra and Sean Parker

Mark Seliger

Newlyweds Sean Parker and Alexandra Lenas are feeling the heat after their June 1 wedding in Big Sur, Calif., made headlines, the Silicon Valley mogul says.

"My wife and I should be happy right now, elated to have been married," Parker wrote in an email to the U.K.'s Guardian.

"Instead," he writes, "we are being spat upon by complete strangers while walking together on the street, cursed at by a waiter in a restaurant who had read bogus media reports about our wedding, and told by complete strangers that we should get our divorce papers ready since our marriage clearly isn't going to last," said Parker.

Officiated by Rev. John A. Buehrens, the lavish wedding, which reportedly cost $9 million, took place before 300 guests at The Ventana Inn in Big Sur, Calif. Lenas wore a gown by Elie Saab, while the groom, the couple's infant daughter, Winter Victoria, and the guests were dressed by Academy Award-winning costume designer Ngila Dickson.

Parker attributes the backlash to unfair and misreported coverage of the wedding, the Guardian reports.

"Trying to correct every misconception about me would be a losing battle and I would drive myself crazy trying to do it," Parker's email said. "This situation is different because it relates to one of the most personal and private of moments in life ? my wedding."

The Guardian goes on to state that the wedding ran afoul of the California Coastal Commission, which reported that faux stone walls and a bridge over a pond went up on a campsite in the Redwoods, and the work was carried out without the necessary permits.

Parker said he agreed to pay the commission $1 million and gave another $1.5 million to put up campgrounds for underprivileged children ? a move Parker says the CCC praised.

Source: http://feeds.people.com/~r/people/headlines/~3/sjSD8V7eWq0/0,,20710378,00.html

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