The Ambani Wedding: Everything You Need To Know
The Ambani wedding has drawn to close…
In what feels like a Bollywood fairytale brought to life, two childhood sweethearts married on the world stage this weekend, with the pomp and ceremony reaching royal wedding grandeur.
Anant Ambani announced his engagement to fiancée Radhika Merchant in 2022, but their love story began much longer ago. Posting their first photo together on Instagram in 2018, the couple have reportedly been friends since childhood, with Radhika attending both Isha Ambani-Anand Piramal’s wedding in 2018 and Akash Ambani-Shloka Mehta’s wedding in 2019.
What made this marriage extraordinary? Anant Ambani is the son of India’s richest person – Mukesh Ambani – and his wife Nita Ambani, while Radhika is the daughter of businessman Viren Merchant and his wife Shaila Merchant, with both families boasting unfathomable fortunes. The result? A wedding filled with the most opulent Indian fashion and fine jewels that the world has ever seen.
Since their engagement, ever increasing numbers avidly followed their elaborate series of pre-wedding celebrations on social media. A whirlwind of glamorous events saw the who’s who of business, tech, celebrity and Bollywood come together to celebrate the happy couple, with each gathering proving more lavish than the last.
From the three-day event in Jamnagar in March, which featured glass palaces, custom Versace and Rihanna, to the luxury cruise sailing from Italy to the South of France in May, where the Backstreet Boy’s sang their top hits, and a performance from Justin Bieber at their sangeet ceremony last week, the family set the bar high for the wedding celebration itself.
Held at the Jio World Centre, the wedding was a three-day affair – and rumours of a 4th event to come – with different dress codes for each event.
Here, we follow the highlights of the couple’s sensational celebration from start to finish.
Day One: The Auspicious Wedding
Portraits Of The Ambani Family Are Unveiled
Shared by designer Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla on Instagram, the Ambani family posed for a group photo, each wearing his elegant and opulent custom designs in peach, orange and gold hues.
Individual portraits of Isha Ambani, the groom’s sister, and Nita Ambani, showcased the Zardozi hand embroidery and glittering Swarovski crystals on each outfit, paired with breathtakingly beautiful jewels. Isha’s necklace featured a remarkable array of rare coloured diamonds, set within delicate butterfly and floral silhouettes.
Portraits Of The Bride Are Unveiled
Radhika’s stylist Rhea Kapoor first shared photos of the glowing bride wearing Abu Sandeep’s interpretation of ‘Panetar’ – the Gujarati tradition of brides wearing red and white. Rhadika’s Ivory ensemble featured a ghagra with a detachable trail, a 5 meter head veil and a tissue shoulder dupatta. With glittering red borders, the ghagra showcased extraordinary Naqshi, Saadi and Zardozi embroidery, decorated with precious gems and sequins.
Kim Kardashian and Khloe Kardashian arrive
Kim and Khloe Kardashian arrived wearing custom-made lehengas by Manish Maholtra, dramatically contrasted in bold scarlet and elegant ivory, wish lashings of sparkling diamonds.
Bollywood’s Big Names Bring Sensational Colour
Ananya Panday, Khushi Kapoor and Shanaya Kapoor proved that block colour and animal prints make for a winning lehenga look.
Priyanka Chopra Lights Up The Dance Floor
Dancing alongside Nick Jonas, Pryianka Chopra enjoyed the evening’s baraat ceremony, wearing a striking sunshine yellow ensemble.
Spanish Superstar Luis Fonsi Serenaded The Guests With His Hit Song “Despacito”
Festivities were well and truly underway as Luis Fonsi performed for guests at the groom’s baraat. Luis joined an impressive line up of performers from the previous pre-wedding celebrations, including Rihanna, the Backstreet Boys, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber.
Big Names From Around The World Continue to Join The Party
Former UK Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair were among the guests invited to the first day of the wedding celebrations, while anticipation continues to build around the guest list for the following two days, for both the divine blessings ceremony on Saturday, and the wedding reception on Sunday. Temporary traffic measures have been put in place in Mumbai to accommodate the bridal party, with main roads sealed off for several hours a day until the celebrations close.
Radhika Arrives In Inimitable Style
The bride arrived at the venue in spectacular fashion, gracefully cruising along the indoor river in an extraordinary swan-shaped boat. The Jio World Centre had been especially transformed by the Ambani family to feel like a miniature India; shop facades and streets had been constructed inside the venue, bringing an almost theme-park feel to the wedding’s surreal setting.
The Ambani Family’s Dog Stole The Limelight For a Moment
While the bride was definitely centre stage, the Ambani family’s golden retriever looked especially fetching in his own blush pink coat, clearly enjoying the festivities.
The Groom in Procession With Shloka and Isha Ambani
Further illustrating the Ambani family’s penchant for emeralds, Anant Ambani displayed an extraordinary show of wealth while walking with his sister and sister-in-law – an opulent emerald and diamond necklace alongside a high jewellery Cartier brooch featuring a square cabochon emerald of staggering size.
Radhika Wears A Manish Malhotra Ensemble For Her Vidaai
For her Vidaai, the formal farewell to her family following her marriage, Radhika wore an exquisite Manish Malhotra couture ensemble, drawing the Friday celebrations to a close, as guests and social media await the next day’s festivities.
Day Two: The Divine Blessings
Portraits of Radhika Ambani are unveiled
For her first evening as Mrs Radhika Ambani, the bride wore Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla couture, who collaborated with Indian artist and sculptor Jayasri Burman to create an extraordinary ensemble. Twelve hand-painted panels feature meaningful figurative motifs, referencing the couple’s union, the divinity in their humanity, and the groom’s love of animals, including the auspicious elephant. The embroidery gleams with real gold, and glitters with a sea of sequins.
Kim and Khloe Kardashian arrive
Kim and Khloe Kardashian made their second appearance of the weekend, emerging in two shades of pink and fully adorned with diamonds. U.S. based designer Lorraine Schwartz crafted the exceptional diamond necklace, earrings, mang tikka and nath worn by Kim, and her nude hued lehenga was a couture design by Tarun Tahiliani.
Later in the evening, Kim changed into another red ensemble, explaining to Julia Hackman Chafé that she had chosen a remarkable suite of Lorraine Schwartz emeralds, featuring an exquisite headpiece, hand jewel, earrings and ring.
Bollywood starlets showcase another evening of sensational Indian fashion
Janhvi Kapoor
Janhvi Kapoor chose a custom corset lehenga from Tarun Tahiliani’s upcoming collection that glittered with countless beads, gems and silver sequins.
Ananya Pandey
Bollywood star Ananya Pandey looked every part the Indian princess as she arrived at the Shubh Aashirvaad celebrations. Her delicate mint ensemble was a saccharine delight, embellished with pastel embroidery and delicate beading. A sleek diamond choker adorned her neck, which sported a fringe of elegant pearls.
Rashmika Mandanna
In one of the few darker-toned outfits we have seen so far in the wedding celebrations, Rashmika Mandanna stood out in a navy blue ensemble with scintillating silver beading and sequins. Rashmika’s hair was pulled back into a neat bun, adorned entirely with fresh flowers as a final flourish.
Alia Bhatt
Actor Alia Bhatt chose a more sedate ensemble for the second evening of celebrations compared to the vibrant red she wore to the couple’s wedding itself, but her jewellery brought ample drama to her neutral-hued lehenga. Wearing an extraordinary diamond necklace that adorned her entire décolletage, Alia added matching earrings and stacks of bangles to finish the look.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Bestows His Blessings
Perhaps indicating the cultural and historic significance of the Ambani wedding, Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the couple’s Shubh Aashirvaad ceremony to bestow his blessings. The Prime Minster was seen going up onto the stage barefoot, before blessing the newlyweds and greeting the bride and groom’s parents.
Day Three: The Wedding Reception
Portraits Of The Bride Are Unveiled
Radhika Ambani wore Dolce&Gabbana Alta Moda Sardegna 2024 and custom Anamika Khanna couture for the final night of her wedding celebrations, with a corseted bodice in glittering gold. Radhika paired the gown with a sensational suite of diamonds that showcased a flurry of pear shaped stones elegantly arranged into a bib-necklace silhouette, along with stacks of scintillating bangles.
Nita Ambani
For the final night’s celebrations, Nita Ambani chose a custom Manish Malhotra hand-embroidered saree. Sharing her love for diamonds as she wore a staggering diamond necklace with matching earrings and bracelets.
Portraits Of Radhika And Her In-Laws Are Unveiled
At the close of the couple’s celebrations, an elegant portrait of Radhika with her now mother and sisters-in-law is released, summing up the extraordinary fashion and fine jewels from the last few days. We’ve never seen a wedding quite like it, and we suspect we may never do again.
Lead image courtesy of Instagram/@rheakapoor
