How the Ambani wedding weighs up against some famous, expensive, big fat Indian weddings

Money can't buy happiness, or ensure marital success, but it can certainly buy a very, very expensive wedding.

Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s upcoming wedding is often dubbed as the wedding of the year and is perhaps the most talked-about event in recent times. After kicking off celebrations earlier this year with their first pre-wedding festivities in Gujarat, the billionaire family followed it up with a star-studded luxury cruise to Italy for another pre-wedding affair — there are some things that only the Ambanis can conceive of, after all. Thankfully, the happy couple is finally getting hitched.

In the interim, speculations are rife on just how much of his wealth the senior Mr Ambani has parted with for his son’s nuptials. Internet trolls even suggest that Jio’s potential IPO plans are in part to compensate for the extravagant spending on the wedding. Jokes aside, while we won’t know for sure just how much has been spent on this wedding until after it has culminated, it promises to win the title of the most expensive wedding in the world in recent times.

In the meantime, we can take you through some of the most pricey big fat Indian weddings!

Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal’s 700-crore wedding

Daughter of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, Isha had a week-long extravaganza costing Rs 700 crores, or roughly $100 million. The celebration spanned across Udaipur (India), Lake Como (Italy), and Mumbai (India), with celebrities performing and the ceremony on a private island.

Double Wedding of Roy Brothers cost 554 crores

In 2004, the sons of business tycoon Subrata Roy, the former chairman of the Sahara Group, Sushant Roy and Seemanto Roy's wedding cost Rs 554 crore $75 million. Held at a Lucknow stadium, it was a week-long party with over 11,000 guests flown in by private jets, including Bollywood stars and sports personalities.

Brahmani Reddy's 500-crore wedding

The 2016 wedding of Brahmani Reddy, daughter of mining magnate and former politician Gali Janardhana Reddy, to Rajiv Reddy was a $74 million affair (Rs 500 crore). The five-day celebration at Bangalore Palace hosted 50,000 guests, including celebrities and politicians.

Shristi Mittal and Gulraj Behl’s wedding costed 500 crores

Steel tycoon Promod Mittal’s daughter, Shristi Mittal, married Gulraj Behl spent the same amount of money as the Reddys during their three-day celebration in Barcelona, Spain in 2013. It had 500 guests, a menu by a celebrity chef, and a giant six-tier cake. Helicopters even captured the event from above!

Another Mittal wedding worth 240 crores

Lakshmi Mittal from the same steel tycoon family had his daughter Vanisha Mittal married to Amit Bhatia in a grand Parisian wedding that cost Rs 240 crores ($55 million) back in 2004! The six-day celebration featured performances by celebrities like Kylie Minogue and Bollywood stars. A play was written for the pre-wedding events, and the main ceremony was held at a 17th-century chateau. We think it’s fair to say that this couple sort of set the precedent for the other expensive weddings that followed.

Sonam Vaswani's 210-crore wedding

In 2017, Sonam Vaswani's wedding to Navin Fabiani cost Rs 210 crores ($30 million) and was held at a royal venue in Vienna (Austria). Sonam is the daughter of Stallion Group founder Sunil Vaswani while Navin is a UAE- and Mumbai-based businessman. The festivities took place across multiple palaces.

Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma's 100-crore wedding

Celebrity couple Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma reportedly spent Rs 100 crores ($15 million) on their wedding in Italy in 2017. Virushka’s nuptials were attended by just 40 guests but they got married in Lake Como, which would explain the expenditure! The couple also held a reception later in Mumbai.

Looking ahead: a billion-dollar Ambani wedding?

With pre-wedding festivities already costing a reported US$100 million, the upcoming wedding of Anant Ambani is poised to break records. Whether it surpasses past extravagance remains to be seen, but one thing's for sure: it will be a spectacle to remember.

Also Read: $4