Following months of elaborate pre-wedding celebrations, India’s wealthiest family is reportedly set to spend over $100 million on their son’s wedding, potentially making it one of the most expensive weddings in modern history.
Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s four-day wedding is anticipated to feature stunning decorations, numerous celebrity performances, and guests from the spheres of politics, business, sports, and the arts.
Anant is the youngest child of Mukesh Ambani, the director of Reliance Industries and the 11th richest person in the world, according to Forbes. His bride, Radhika Merchant, comes from a well-known family in the pharmaceutical industry.
The Ambani family has not disclosed the amount spent on the wedding, but estimates suggest anywhere from $150 million to over half a billion dollars. Expenses include booking musicians, chartering private jets, and organizing a feast for nearby underprivileged communities, as reported by the BBC and the India Times.
Given the number of prominent international and Indian politicians in attendance, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Mumbai police have declared the wedding a public event, according to the BBC. Roads near the event venues were restricted to non-wedding guests, while the groom led a convoy of luxury vehicles to kick off the festivities.
This weekend marks the peak of the couple’s celebrations, but it is not the first event in their honor. In March, the Ambani family hosted over a thousand people at their Jamnagar estate in India, with notable attendees like Mark Zuckerberg, Hillary Clinton, and Ivanka Trump. For the occasion, the Ambanis constructed a glass palace inspired by the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Palm House and hired Rihanna for her first full-length concert in nearly a decade.
“I wanted to be fun, free, and young,” Merchant told Vogue regarding the all-night party following Rihanna’s performance. “An Indian wedding is incomplete without a lot of dancing.”
In late May, Ambani and Merchant held another pre-wedding celebration on the Mediterranean Sea, hosting 1,200 people for a four-day cruise starting in Palermo, Italy, and stopping in various locations. In Cannes, guests were treated to a surprise concert by Katy Perry, followed by another concert by Pitbull upon reboarding the ship.
A stop in Portofino featured a performance by famed opera singer Andrea Bocelli.
“It was just the most magical evening,” Merchant told Vogue, describing Bocelli’s performance. “I had goosebumps.”