What we find out about Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s large day

One of the world’s most high-profile weddings takes place on Friday in an insanely lavish display of wealth which will attract global tech bosses, industry titans, Bollywood stars, pop stars and leading politicians.

The three-day extravaganza in Mumbai will see Anant Ambani, the son of India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, tie the knot with Radhika Merchant, the daughter of a wealthy pharmaceutical mogul.

Billionaire Mr Ambani, 67 is estimated to have spent a staggering £100 million on the wedding with the guest list including the likes of Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg, Ivanka Trump, Bill Gates and Hilary Clinton.

Justin Bieber performed at a pre-wedding party for guests known as a ‘Sangeet’ while according to sources, Adele or Drake will provide the entertainment at a reception.

But the eye watering amount shelled out by the Indian billionaire is less than half of the overall cost which is estimated at a staggering £250 million with the ostentatious Mumbai nuptials the latest in a series of glittering events hosted by the Ambani family.

In March, three days of pre-wedding festivities in the western Indian town of Jamnagar saw Rihanna perform for guests. She was paid £5 million for a 90-minute appearance.

And in preparation for this week’s celebrations, Mr Ambani, who is worth an estimated £100 billion, hired a luxury cruise liner called Celebrity Ascent for 800 guests who embarked on a four-day Mediterranean cruise and enjoyed private performances from stars like Katie Perry, Pitbull, and the Backstreet Boys.

The ship boasts a whopping 32 restaurants, bars, and lounges, as well as a rooftop garden, a casino, spa, multiple pools, and a full theatre, which guests had exclusive use of.

Details around the wedding have been tightly guarded but a source told MailOnline: ‘It’s an unbelievable amount to spend but no expense has been spared. This is a wedding like no other, it will be as grand as you can imagine and have the best of the best.

‘Everything has been meticulously planned and the wedding will be attended by some of the world’s most influential and powerful people. The Ambanis have gone out of their way to ensure that their wealth will be on full display in all its glory.’

The actual marriage ceremony, which will be performed according to traditional Hindu rituals, will take place next Friday at Mumbai’s Jio World Convention Centre, a sprawling cultural and business hub with a capacity for 16,000 people which was built by the Ambani family.

The following day, a traditional ‘divine blessings ceremony’ known as ‘The Shubh Aashirwad’ will take place at the same venue which will also host a glitzy reception on Sunday.

 

The dates for the ceremonies were chosen by a Hindu priest according to auspicious days on Anant and Radhika’s birth charts. They are both aged 29.

Around 100 chefs will prepare a range of Indian and European delicacies for guests who have all been given instructions on what to wear to keep in line with the theme of the wedding.

The dress code for Friday’s marriage ceremony is ‘traditional Indian attire,’ with ‘Indian formal’ for next Saturday and ‘Indian chic’ for the following day’s reception.

Invitations were sent out last month in an ornate red box containing a model silver temple, gifts and a handcrafted pashmina shawl. Each invitation is estimated to have cost around £7,000.

Dozens of wedding costumes costing upwards of £10,000 each for the bride and groom and their families have been custom designed by Manish Malhotra, one of India’s leading designers who is also the wedding’s creative director.

He has been working closely with Mr Ambani’s wife Nita, who is one of India’s leading philanthropists and has been the driving force behind the look and feel of the occasion.

He told media: ‘Each detail, from the decor and cuisine to the attire and ambiance; each event, from the vibrant Sangeet to the ceremonial wedding day and the grand reception, is designed to immerse guests in an atmosphere of joy, love and celebration.’

Malhotra designed two traditional lehengas, a form of ankle length skirt, that Radhika wore to March’s pre-wedding festivities. A gold one was studded with 20,000 Swarovski crystals and was made by over 70 artisans while an Art Deco inspired blue lehenga took 5,700 hours to make.

During the pre-wedding celebrations on the cruise ship Radhika wore a custom black and white Robert Wun gown that had a love letter Anant wrote to her years prior sewn into the skirt.

Mr Malhotra and his team have been working on the wedding arrangements and costumes for the past year and have been made to sign non-disclosure agreements so that no details will leak out.

A source said: ‘What Radhika will be wearing for the actual wedding and the celebrations after will be more elaborate than anything we’ve seen so far. Mr Malhotra has worked with the best people in the industry to come up with truly stunning pieces.

‘But the whole thing has been run like a military operation and details about it are top secret.’

Scores of luxury cars have been hired to ferry guests from their five-star hotels in Mumbai, where they are being put up by the Ambani family, to the festivities.

As well as the main wedding celebrations several other events are also being held at Antilla, the Ambani’s 27 storey family home in Mumbai which cost £800 million to build.

A traditional ‘puja’ ceremony which involves making a variety of offerings to Hindu gods will also take place at the Ambani’s home along with a private party for both families.

The 27-storey Ambani family home features a health club with a gym and dance studio, a ballroom, at least one swimming pool and a 50-seater cinema plus three helipads and parking for 168 cars. It employs 600 staff and is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest and costliest private residence.

This is where Anant and Radhika will live, keeping in line with Indian tradition for couples to remain with the groom’s family after their marriage.

Radhika is the daughter of Indian pharmaceuticals tycoon Viren Merchant and works for his company while Anant is employed by his father.

Both studied at universities in the US and met through mutual friends in 2017 and began dating soon after.

Mr Ambani has two other children and is chairman of Reliance Industries, India’s biggest company by market capitalisation with extensive interests in energy, telecommunications and entertainment.

In 2018 he threw his daughter, Isha, the most expensive wedding India had ever seen at the time which cost a reported £80 million.

Beyonce performed and guests attended receptions in Italy’s Lake Como, as well as Mumbai and Rajasthan.

Now set to pay more than three times that mount for his youngest son Anant’s wedding, Mr Ambani and his family have been keen to demonstrate their more philanthropic side as the world watches on transfixed by their opulence.

Days before their own grand festivities, they hosted a mass wedding ceremony for 50 couples from poor communities and gave them wedding gifts that included gold trinkets, household items and £1,000 each.

Billionaire heir Anant Ambani and fiancée Radhika Merchant’s lavish pre-wedding celebrations continue with FOUR-DAY Mediterranean cruise – that include private performances from Katy Perry and the Backstreet Boys 

Billionaire Anant Ambani and fiancée Radhika Merchant’s insanely lavish pre-wedding celebrations have continued – as the couple embarked on a four-day Mediterranean cruise with 1,200 guests, throwing parties across Europe with private performances from stars like Katy Perry, Pitbull, and the Backstreet Boys.

Anant, 29, who is the son of India‘s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, and Radhika, 29, are set to tie the knot in Mumbai in July, but the festivities kicked off months ago. 

Back in March, the couple made headlines after it was revealed that they had hosted a wildly glamorous party to celebrate their upcoming nuptials in Jamnagar, India, that was estimated to have cost them more than $128 million.

Now, the pre-wedding events have resumed, as the couple recently took more than 1,000 of their friends and family members – including global tech CEOs, Bollywood stars, and Hollywood legends – on a private cruise through the Mediterranean.

Over the course of the four-day expedition, the soon-to-be husband and wife, along with their guests, stopped in stunning European cities like Sicily and Rome in Italy and Cannes in France.

Each night of the trip they hosted exquisite parties that had opulent décor and star-studded celebrity performances.

‘It was a retreat for the people that have contributed to our life in different ways,’ Radhika told Vogue recently of the cruise.

The publication reported that they decided to host the endeavor because ‘many of their close friends’ were ‘unable to make it to’ the first party, and that they ultimately decided on a cruise through Europe because they ‘struggled to find a destination that could accommodate such a large group.’

The vacation began in Palermo, Sicily, on May 29, where guests enjoyed a welcome lunch before heading onto the boat.

An onlooker uploaded footage that showed dozens of elite black cars lined up by the pier dropping the guests off.

The vessel they stayed on is called the Celebrity Ascent, and is said to have cost roughly $900 million to build.

It’s unclear how much it costs to rent out the entire thing like Anant and Radhika did, but the cheapest cruise is priced at $849 for one person for seven nights.

The ship boasts a whopping 32 restaurants, bars, and lounges, as well as a rooftop garden, a casino, spa, multiple pools, and a full theater.

On the first night, the couple hosted a ‘starry-night-themed formal party,’ according to Vogue.

For dazzling soiree, Radhika opted for a custom black and white Robert Wun gown that had a love letter Anant wrote to her years prior sewn into the skirt.

‘He wrote me this long letter for my [22nd] birthday about what I mean to him,’ Radhika recalled.

‘I wanted [to save] it for posterity – I want to be able to show it to my kids and grandkids, and say that “this is what our love was.”‘

The Backstreet Boys also hit the stage to perform during the star-studded event.

The next day, the group arrived in Rome, where the guests were free to sightsee, before heading to a second bash that evening – a toga party on the ship’s deck.

For this one, Radhika donned another custom look, this time created by Grace Ling.

It contained ‘an aerospace aluminum breastplate, made to mimic drapery, that the designer 3D-carved, sculpted, and then 3D-printed,’ Vogue reported.

French DJ David Guetta entertained the crowd throughout the night.

They spent the third day in Cannes, where the bride and group held another party for the guests – a masquerade ball at the acclaimed Château de la Croix des Gardes, the palace famously featured in Alfred Hitchcock’s movie To Catch a Thief. 

For this celebration, Radhika wore a custom Versace dress that took over a year to complete.

It contained a diamond-encrusted chest piece and a long flowing blue skirt. 

She paired the gown with a stunning blue opal necklace that sat on a diamond chain – her and Anant’s birthstones – which was made by Lorraine Schwartz. 

Katy Perry sang during that party, and as she belted out her hit Firework, an intricate firework show blasted across the Cannes sky.

After getting back on the boat, the festivities continued with an afterparty hosted by Pitbull.

The trip ended in Portofino, where they turned the main square into an ‘open-air market complete with food stalls.’ 

They enlisted acclaimed event planner Vincenzo Dascanio to make sure it was perfect, and he did not disappoint.

Italian singer Andrea Bocelli performed, singing the classic tune Can’t Help Falling in Love for the crowd, which Radhika described as ‘magical.’

For the final party, she opted for a hot pink archival Yves Saint Laurent for Dior dress, which was sourced by stylist Mimi Cuttrell.

‘It seems like a simple dress, but if you look at the seams and the construction, you’ll see how detailed it really is,’ she gushed. 

Other celebrity attendees on the cruise include actor Adam Sandler and Bollywood stars Ananya Panday, Suhana Khan, Shanaya Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan, Manushi Chhillar, Shah Rukh Khan, and Guru Randhawa.

According to Vogue, there will be ‘several more high-profile happenings to come,’ including ‘multiple pujas (a prayer ritual for good luck) and ‘a traditional sangeet ceremony.’

Anant’s father Mukesh, 67, runs Indian oil-to-telecoms giant Reliance Industries, and is worth more than $114 billion.

Radhika also hails from a well-off family, as her dad is the CEO of Encore Healthcare.