Ambani Wedding: What Is A Haldi Ceremony?
As the Ambani family’s pre-wedding celebrations continue, family, friends and Bollywood’s finest joined Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant for their haldi ceremony
What Is A Haldi Ceremony?
The haldi ceremony is a pre-wedding ritual that takes place during traditional Indian weddings, surrounded by close friends and family.
The most important and joyous part of the celebration sees guests apply a paste made from turmeric, ‘haldi,’ on the bride and groom’s bodies. The sunshine-yellow hue of turmeric is believed to symbolise purity and beauty, and to protect the couple from bad omens.
The Ambani’s take on this ceremony, however, was as lavish as always. Many guests arrived dressed in bold yellow hues, greeted by the extravagantly adorned venue, which even featured a shrine of the Hindu God Ganesha adorned in flowers.
Guests revelled in the vibrant colour, music and customs, delighted to celebrate the couple’s imminent marriage.
Our Favourite Looks
As with any Ambani pre-wedding event, alongside the fantastic fashion worn by the Ambani family themselves, the guest list featured some of Bollywood’s biggest stars wearing sensational ensembles and fine jewels. Here, we round up some of the most enchanting looks of the evening.
Radhika Merchant
The bride-to-be looked sensational in a lively yellow lehenga by Anamika Khanna. What stole the show, however, was her delicate dupatta which was made out of real mogra flowers. The border of the dupatta featured marigold flowers, and Radhika complemented her look with dainty flower jewellery, a choker neckpiece, matching earrings, and a haathphool hand jewel.
Nita Ambani
The mother of the groom wore a gold ensemble inspired by the traditional Hyderabadi kurta by Manish Malhotra, paired with a khada dupatta, an ancient double draping style that originates from the Mughal era.
Anjali Merchant
Radhika’s sister Anjali Merchant was wearing a bespoke version of Jayanti Reddy’s traditional Banarasi style lehenga, paired with a regal embroidered blouse and mustard-hued dupatta.
Shloka Ambani
Details, details, details. Shloka stood out in a custom-made Anamika Khanna saree, but it was her jewellery that truly shone. Shloka wore a magnificent necklace featuring polki diamonds, paired with a matching hathphool jewel upon her hand.
Jahnvi Kapoor
Jahnvi Kapoor chose a vibrant yellow colour saree by Manish Malhotra for the haldi ceremony, embellished with delicate beading and worn with minimal jewellery.
Isha Ambani
Sister of the groom, Isha Ambani, wore a custom-made Torani panelled lehenga with a tassel detail top, inspired by a traditional Gujrati ensemble. She accessorised the look with eye-catching Kundan jewellery, usually made from gold and wax, and statement ear cuffs.
Sara Ali Khan
Sara looked beautiful in a Mayyur Girotra lehenga, which featured intricate Resham thread embroidery and mirrors, paired with a vibrant patola dupatta adorned with sequins.
Shanaya Kapoor
Shanaya Kapoor also graced the Ambani haldi, wearing a silver lehenga by Manish Malhotra and beautiful jewellery by Begani Jewels.
Ananya Panday
Ananya wore a light pink and gold custom anarkali suit by Re-ceremonial, paired with Jadau (Rajasthani) jewellery by Falguni Mehta. The delicate shade of pink and simple styling placed emphasis upon her gleaming gold jewels.
Lead Image Courtesy of @rheakapoor/Instagram
For more on the Ambani wedding…
The Ambani Wedding: Our Jewellery Predictions