[imagesource: SUJIT JAISWAL]

There is luxury, and then there is outrageous opulence. The Ambani family fits into the latter.

Indian billionaire tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s youngest son, Anant Ambani, married his longtime girlfriend early Saturday in what can only be dubbed the most extravagant wedding in the world. With an estimated cost of $600 million or more (R10,9 billion), it’s quite obvious why this Ambani wedding is the most talked about event of this year.

There was no way that Asia’s richest man was going to spare any expense for the nuptials of his son Anant and his now-wife Radhika Merchant, both 29.

The wedding rituals, including exchanging garlands by the couple and walking around the sacred fire, began last Friday and were completed the next day at the Ambani-owned Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai and the family home, per HuffPost.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Radhika Anant Ambani (@radhikamerchant.rm)

And because a beyond-luxury multi-month wedding simply cannot unfold without a barrage of A-listers to witness the sheer worth of the Ambanis, everyone showed up for the wedding of the year. The guestlist featured some of the most prominent global leaders and celebrities, including former British Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair, Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, American wrestler and actor John Cena, Adele, Drake, Lana Del Rey, David Beckham and dozens of Bollywood elites like Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Ranbir Kapoor.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian)

Anant Ambani and Merchant staged two elaborate and star-studded parties ahead of the main event, including a three-day gala in February in Gujarat state, where Rihanna performed her first concert since last year’s Super Bowl for guests including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, and former US president Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, per Yahoo! News.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Priyanka (@priyankachopra)

Then, in June, the couple embarked on a four-day Mediterranean cruise with their guests, where singer Katy Perry performed at a masquerade ball at a French chateau in Cannes, alongside the Backstreet Boys, US rapper Pitbull and Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. The family also organised a mass wedding for more than 50 underprivileged couples on July 2 as part of the celebrations.

Justin Bieber entertained some of India’s biggest celebrities in the latest instalment of months-long wedding celebrations, rumoured to have been paid up to $10 million for the performance.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber)

Luxury Launches reported that a few lucky attendees were even gifted limited edition Audemars Piguet Royal Oak watches, each estimated to be worth around $250,000. The special edition Audemars Piguet watches were gifted to the groomsmen and his close friends, including Bollywood A-listers Shah Rukh Khan and Ranveer Singh.

According to news reports, the Ambanis commissioned Audemars Piguet to create a series of 25 Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar watches in 18K pink gold.

The AP watches exclusively created for the Ambani wedding came in a special box with unique makings, which all came to a mind-blowing $6.25 million:

Before this, father Ambani held the most expensive wedding in India for his daughter in 2018, which reportedly cost $100 million and saw US singer Beyonce perform.

Often described as a plutocrat, the 67-year-old tycoon is the chairman of Reliance Industries, a conglomerate with businesses in energy, gas, entertainment, retail, telecommunications, and more. He has a fortune of more than $123.3 billion (as of July 2024), making him the richest man in Asia and the 11th wealthiest person in the world, according to Forbes’ billionaires list. Ambani’s critics say his company has relied on political connections during Congress Party-led governments in the 1970s and ’80s, and under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rule after 2014.

The groom Anant oversees the conglomerate’s renewable and green energy expansion while also running a massive animal rescue centre in Gujarat state’s Jamnagar, the family’s hometown. The bride, Radhika Merchant, is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant and is the marketing director for his company, Encore Healthcare, according to Vogue.

The Ambani family owns, among other assets, a 27-story tower in Mumbai worth $1,2 billion, which contains three helipads, a 160-car garage and a private movie theatre.

[sources:huffpost&luxurylaunches]