The big-fat-Indian-wedding of Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal is not just the talk of the town but the whole world now. Isha, 27, the daughter of Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries, whose worth is more than US$47 billion and recently overtook China’s Mr Jack Ma as Asia’s wealthiest man, tied the knot with Anand,33, the son of Ajay Piramal, the chairman of the Piramal Group of companies, whose interests range from pharmaceuticals to financial services and real estate financing.
The couple’s engagement was a lavish affair at a luxury hotel, Lake Como in Italy in September. And two months later the wedding came after a two-day long pre-wedding fiesta in Udaipur’s city palace, on the banks of Lake Pichola, which stirred up a storm on the internet.
Indian newspapers have been abuzz with speculation about the total cost of the wedding around US$100 million, topping even Prince Harry’s and Meghan Markle’s nuptials. Seriously? Conservative estimates have put it at around US$15 million, while others insist that US$100 million is closer to the truth. Well while we calculate how much money is that, let us tell you that Isha Ambani’s wedding has truly been one of a kind, for more reasons than one.
The weeklong extravaganza started off at the picturesque Udaipur City Palace, where the guests were given an app informing about the functions, times and events. All these guests stayed in the 5 five-star hotels the Ambani’s booked and were flown down via private jets.
They even set up a bazaar to showcase traditional Indian paintings and pottery by local artisans, and did their ritual of offering food to more than 5100 people for three days. This is not all; the richest man in the continent set a benchmark for luxury weddings by making the American pop-star Beyonce fly down to India for a special concert for his family and guests, the attendees were pretty lucky we would say.
The singer took to Instagram and shared pictures wearing glorious custom Indian attire especially made by designers Abu Jani- Sandeep Khosla. The fabulous chanteuse serenaded the crowd with her hit singles which literally brought down the house. There were many dazzling performances that followed which includes dance numbers from the Bollywood’s big stars like Salman Khan, Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and many more.
The wedding took place in Antilia, one of the most expensive homes in the world that has a staff of 600 people, six floors of parking, and can withstand an earthquake of eight on the Richter scale. Antilia was covered in red roses and decorated with lights and flowers for the occasion. As per the media reports, the wedding invitation included necklaces and precious stones stacked in a two-tier floral box, costing a whopping Rs. 3lakh each. Sigh! we really need to hold onto something.
Not just the décor and events, even the bride’s wedding attire was a luxurious affair. She incorporated her mother’s 35-year old red textile sari into a dupatta with zardosi borders and her 16-panelled ghagra was hand embroidered in jaals, floral panels with finest zardozi, vasli, mukaish and nakashi work and crystals and sequins were used to enhance the work on the lehenga.
The grand Ambani-Piramal wedding was attended by guests all over the globe. From family friend Hillary Clinton to business tycoons including Henry Kravis and John Kerry to who’s who of India’s super-rich elite stars, sportspersons and politicians the guest list was long.
The wedding gala saw many prominent faces like the newlyweds Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan were also present. The Bachchan family, Alia Bhatt and Sonam Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Saif Ali Khan also graced the event.
While we sink in our chairs and digest all the information, there are more revelations to come in the light about this crazy-rich-Asian wedding.
