Anant Ambani is set to have an incredibly lavish wedding, as his father Mukesh Ambani – India’s richest man, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, worth $114.4 billion – has pulled out all the stops for the lucky groom.
The likes of Rihanna and Bill Gates were spotted arriving to the decadent pre-wedding party in Jamnagar, as the likes of global tech CEOs, Bollywood stars, A-Listers and more are expected to appear at the three-day festivities.
Rihanna is reportedly being paid $6.3 million to perform at the celebrations, as she arrived with her partner A$AP Rocky. Illusionist David Blaine and Bollywood’s Diljit Dosanjh will also perform for the guests.The guest list is said to include the likes of Ivanka Trump, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Disney Chief Robert Iger.
The wedding is set to cost a staggering $151 million, according to MailOnline. The catering contract, awarded to one of India’s leading five-star hotel groups, is estimated to be around $25 million. This could potentially increase, as the wedding is set to take place in July in Mumbai.
This means that Anant’s wedding could potentially cost even more than the most expensive wedding in India, hosted for his sister in 2018. Mukesh reportedly spent $100 million on his daughter Isha’s wedding, which saw Beyoncé perform at the nuptials.
The Reliance Foundation explained on social media that the Ambanis are building a Hindu temple complex in Jamnagar, in order to keep ‘India’s rich cultural and spiritual identity at the heart of the wedding festivities’.
The celebrations, set to take place from March 1-3, will have a number of different themes, events and dress codes. The Hindustan Times even reported a ‘jungle fever’ day with a visit to an Ambani-run animal shelter.
The couple are hosting 1,000 VIPs, housed in five-star facilities just outside the city, where hundreds of staff will be on hand to take care of them. Hundreds of chefs are being flown in to cater for the party, reportedly preparing 500 dishes over the three days, ranging from traditional India food to Mexican, Chinese and European.
Anant is marrying Radhika Merchant, a businesswoman who serves on Encore Healthcare’s board of directors, which her father is the CEO and vice-chair of, according to Forbes. DNA India also reported that Radhika was a trained classical dancer who spent eight years learning Bharatanatyam at Shree Nibha Arts dance academy in Mumbai, completing formal training in 2022.
