Most Expensive Wedding In The World: Ambani Edition
In December 2018 India hosted one of the world’s most expensive weddings to date. On December 12th, 2018, Asia’s richest man – telecom and oil tycoon Mukesh Ambani – gave away his daughter Isha Ambani to billionaire industrialist Ajay Piramal’s son, Anand. Both Isha and Anand were childhood sweethearts, who finally took the plunge and exchanged vows in front of some of the world’s most influential people.
The week-long extravaganza has been estimated to cost about US$100 million ($137 million), according to experts.
The Big Fat Ambani Wedding
This could be India’s answer to a royal wedding. To put the amount into perspective, the royal wedding of Prince Charles and Princess Diana 37 years ago reportedly cost US$110 million in today’s dollars.
Festivities lasted for a week, and the main event was held at the Ambanis’ private residence in Antilia, where the couple finally got hitched. The 27-storey Antilla (yes, 27 stories), is one of the world’s most expensive private residences, was beautifully decked up to host one of the most expensive weddings of 2018.
The Guest List
Guests invited to the pre-wedding festivities, in the central Indian lake city of Udaipur, ranged from international celebrities such as Beyoncé (who PERFORMED) to politicians like Hillary Clinton and business moguls including Henry Kravis. Imagine John Kerry shaking his thang to Bollywood music.
The guest list was so massive that the Ambanis and Piramals had entirely booked at least five five-star hotels nearby, and a war room had been set up in Mumbai to manage logistics. Say what?
Bollywood A-listers attended festivities all through the week. They danced on the sangeet. Some big names such as Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan were even back up dancers to the Ambani family.
If that wasn’t enough living legends such as Amitabh Bachchan and Amir Khan, along with a host of other B Town celebrities served food to the esteemed guests.
Queen B herself, Beyonce Knowles also gave a powerful performance at the pre-wedding event. Her attendance and performance at the Ambani wedding set Twitter and Instagram on fire. People couldn’t imagine how much the family must have spent on the iconic singer.
Five Things You Need To Know About The Wedding
- The wedding celebrations included a two-day pre-wedding spectacle in Udaipur, which is said to have cost upward of $10 million. Some reports have suggested the price to be around $100 million for India Inc’s most expensive wedding.
- There was a separate function for the employees of both Reliance Industries and Piramal Group on Saturday.
- Grammy and Oscar-winning music director AR Rehman and tabla legend Zakir Hussain also played at the BKC dos.
- The actual nuptials were a much smaller affair with a shorter list of about 600 guests. The guest-list was restricted to close relatives and friends of the two families. No biggies at this one.
- They’re ready to do it all again! The Ambanis are set to give an encore as Isha’s twin brother Akash is set to walk down the aisle soon.
