A toga party. A masquerade ball. Rihanna’s first full concert in nearly eight years. A bespoke glass palace and a light show involving 5,500 drones.
All those elements and more have been just part of the warm-up for the Ambani wedding, which will take place from July 12 to 14 and see Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant tying the knot – so it’s only understandable that all eyes are on the mega-wealthy couple and what they have planned for the main event.
Just this weekend, Justin Bieber performed at the couple's sangeet ceremony, sharing a number of pictures and videos from the event. But if you're wondering who the Ambanis are and why their ultra-luxe wedding celebrations have the internet fascinated, here's everything you need to know…
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Who are Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant?
Groom Anant Ambani, 29, is the son of Indian businessman Mukesh Ambani and Nita Ambani. The elder Ambani is the CEO of Reliance Industries, a conglomerate whose businesses include various energy, communications, textile and chemical interests. With an estimated net worth of about $120 billion (as of July 3, 2024), the father of the groom is among the two wealthiest people in Asia, and the 11th-richest person in the world. In February, Disney merged its Indian operations with Reliance in a reported $8.5 billion deal.
Anant, who owns a percentage of Reliance, received a bachelor’s degree from Brown University in 2017. He has an older sister, Isha Ambani, and an older brother, Aakash Ambani. Anant is a non-executive director at Reliance. He sits on the board of the conglomerate’s Reliance Foundation, as well as the board of Reliance Industries itself, and he is also one of the directors of tech company Jio Platforms Limited. The youngest Ambani sibling has an estimated net worth of approximately $40 billion.
Bride Radhika Merchant, also 29, is the daughter of Shaila Merchant and Viren Merchant. Viren is the CEO of Encore Healthcare, while Shaila is one of the company’s managing directors. Radhika’s parents have an estimated net worth of approximately $90 million, according to the Times of India. Radhika graduated from New York University with a degree in political science and now sits on the board of directors at Encore. She is also a classically trained dancer.
Okay, we're obsessed.
When did Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant get engaged?
Though the first photos of the two together appeared in 2018 (the same year they attended the wedding of Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra), Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant demonstrated the union of their families when they participated in a traditional Roka ceremony in December 2022 at the Shrinathji Temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan. Their families issued a joint statement celebrating their commitment to one another.
“Anant and Radhika have known each other for a few years and today’s ceremony commences the formal journey of their marriage in the coming months,” the statement read. “Both families seek the blessings and good wishes of everyone for Radhika and Anant as they start their journey of togetherness.”
In January 2023, the couple had their Gol Dhana, a ceremony in which Merchant was symbolically welcomed into the Ambani home in Mumbai, and which marked their official engagement. The party that followed, Radhika told Vogue, was “unquestionably, the best night of my life.”
In an interview with India Today, Anant called Radhika the “person of my dreams” and said that she changed his perspective on wanting to get married.
“Since childhood, I had thought that I would never get married because I was always devoted to taking care of animals,” he said. “But when I met Radhika, I saw her sharing the same values as me. She has this sense of giving and nurturing towards animals.”
She was also by his side through health difficulties.
“Beyond that, Radhika has stood like a strong pillar of support during my difficult times, as I battled with health issues," he said. “Even my parents never made me feel like I was ill. Even when doctors gave up on certain things, they never did. Additionally, Radhika gave me strength.”
Radhika said that the two were introduced by mutual friends in 2017. “That first meeting just sparked something special between us, and it wasn’t long before we started dating,” she told Vogue.
The couple have held two lavish multi-day celebrations ahead of their July wedding festivities. The first was held from March 1 to 3 at the Ambani estate in Jamnagar, India, with some 1,200 guests invited. One of those guests was Rihanna, who performed her first full-length concert in nearly eight years to kick off the celebration (for a fee that has been estimated by various different outlets to have been anywhere between $6 and $9 million). Attendees such as Bill Gates, Hillary Clinton, Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump, Karlie Kloss, and Mark Zuckerberg – as well as other business power players – gathered to toast the couple and enjoy the show. Other entertainers reportedly included Akon, Punjabi musician Diljit Dosanjh and magician David Blaine.
The weekend was planned over three months, with Anant’s mother, Nita, recruiting Indian designer Manish Malhotra to be the affair’s creative director.
Before the weekend, a nine-page dress code for the various events was reportedly shared with guests, including guidance for a “jungle fever” look for one event involving the animal rescue the Ambanis founded, with invitees instructed to don their finest animal prints and comfortable shoes. To help attendees look their best, hair and makeup artists were on site, as well as Indian drapists. A cocktail party on the first night, for example, had an “evening in everland” theme. The fashion was as high as the spirits: Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, were reportedly quite taken with a $1 million Richard Mille watch sported by Anant one night, and among Radhika’s looks was a custom Versace gown.
A few days before guests arrived, the families provided meals to their community, feeding 51,000 people and spreading their wealth to their neighbours. During the celebration, guests enjoyed 500 different dishes created by 100 chefs throughout the three days. One memorable venue included a glass palace built for the occasion, meant to evoke the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Palm House, complete with a mini train that guests could ride. Following Rihanna’s performance, the couple stayed out until 7 a.m., Radhika said.
Olivia celebrated ten years of marriage to Johannes Huebl with a bigger party - and a bigger dress.
“I wanted to be fun, free, and young,” she told Vogue. “An Indian wedding is incomplete without a lot of dancing.”
The Ambani patriarch is no stranger to throwing a party: In 2018, when daughter Isha got married, he threw another star-studded pre-wedding bash, this one with a performance by Beyoncé. In 2019, for Akash’s pre-wedding in Switzerland, The Chainsmokers and Coldplay’s Chris Martin were among the performers at the celebrations.
And what’s this I’m hearing about a second pre-wedding celebration?
But wait, there’s more! In late May, the couple and around 1,200 of their friends, family, and coworkers — including stylist Law Roach, who recently styled Isha for a Vogue India cover —boarded a cruise ship in Palermo, Italy, for a four-day trip, making stops throughout the Mediterranean.
“It was a retreat for the people that have contributed to our life in different ways,” Radhika told Vogue. “We had people from the ages of six months going up to 90 years.”
The themed celebrations and prestige entertainment were again present on the cruise: The Backstreet Boys gave a surprise concert, and one night called for a toga party dress code, a nod to the couple’s college origins. The boat was even decorated with banners of their respective alma maters, Brown and NYU. The DJ for the night? David Guetta, of course. Radhika’s toga was actually a custom 3D-carved and 3D-printed creation by designer Grace Ling, who enlisted the help of more than 30 artisans to craft the look. Nita Ambani, the mother of the groom, opted for a toga by Schiaparelli.
The ship stopped for an evening in Cannes, where guests enjoyed a masquerade ball and a surprise Katy Perry concert. A Pitbull concert followed upon reboarding.
In Portofino, celebrants were treated to a specially created open-air market for the night’s festivities, during which they were serenaded by Andrea Bocelli. The tenor performed Love in Portofino and Can’t Help Falling in Love.
“It was just the most magical evening,” Radhika told Vogue. “I had goosebumps.”
After all this, there’s still the wedding? When is the Ambani wedding?
Oh yeah, there’s still a wedding. Guests will gather in Mumbai for three days of ceremonies and celebration spanning from July 12 to July 14. The dates were chosen as especially auspicious based on the couple's birth charts. Details of what is sure to be a spectacle are under wraps, but videos of the couple’s elaborate wedding invitations are a hint at the lavish revelry ahead.
Invitees received a large lacquered red box, a sort of mini-armoire, which revealed a detailed silver mandir when opened, as well as another small box with gold idols of Hindu gods including Lord Ganesha and Radha Krishna. When the doors opened, the box played mantras. The invitation also held another box with dried fruits and sweets, a hand-written note from the couple, and a delicate embroidered shawl. The couple hand-delivered the invitations to what is sure to be the wedding of the year to certain VIPs.
Ahead of the wedding itself and with the two blowout pre-wedding weekends behind her, Radhika expressed her gratitude and excitement, telling Vogue that planning is “going great” and that she’s “very excited to be married.”
“I recognise that this is a privilege few people experience, and I truly feel blessed,” she said of the celebrations. “I hope that our wedding will bring global attention to Vantara, the largest animal rehabilitation centre in the world, a project that my husband and I hold very close in our hearts.”
This article originally appeared on Vanity Fair.
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