In India, weddings are not just a union of two souls. They are a full-blown event where money flows faster than the speed at which everyone rushes to the dance floor when Sukhbir’s Ishq Tera Tadpave plays.
At least that seemed to be the case with these truly expensive Indian weddings, none of which cost less than ₹100 crores:
1. Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal: ₹700 crore
In 2018, when the daughter of India’s richest business tycoon married a business scion, the world sat up and took notice.
Hard not to, when the wedding was spread across 3 places (Udaipur, Lake Como in Italy, and Mumbai), the guest list included former First Lady of the US, Hillary Clinton, and over half of Bollywood, and the festivities included a performance by none other than Beyonce!
2. Sushanto Roy and Seemanto Roy’s double wedding: ₹554 crore
The notorious chairman of Sahara India Pariwar, Subrata Roy, hosted one hell of a double wedding in 2004, for his sons, Sushanto and Seemanto.
From flying his guests on private jets to marrying 101 underprivileged girls, to serving over 100 cuisines to his 11,000 guests, Subrata Roy definitely left no stone unturned in making the double wedding a memorable and lavish affair.
3. Sanjay Hinduja and Anu Mahtani: ₹140 crores
Stars like Malaika, Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer & even Nicole Scherzinger and Jennifer Lopez performed at the wedding, while delicacies from 16 different countries were served and BMWs chauffeured the guests (16,000) around.
Stars like Malaika, Arjun Kapoor, Ranveer & even Nicole Scherzinger and Jennifer Lopez performed at the wedding, while delicacies from 16 different countries were served and BMWs chauffeured the guests (16,000) around.
4. Brahmani and Rajeev Reddy: ₹550 crore
When mining baron Janardhan Reddy hosted the wedding of his only daughter in 2016 (yes, in the middle of demonetization), he spared no expense, quite literally.
The wedding invitation card included an LCD screen, the bride wore a Kanjeevaram saree worth ₹17 crores and jewellery worth ₹90 crore. Over 50,000 guests attended the festivities, with the wedding venue designed to resemble the ruins of Hampi.
5. Shristi Mittal and Gulraj Behl: ₹500 crore
Steel tycoon Laxmi Mittal’s niece, Shristi Mittal, had a ‘big, fat, Indian wedding’ to rival most big, fat Indian weddings when she married investment banker Gulraj Behl in a three-day extravagant affair in Barcelona.
500 guests attended the wedding festivities, after signing a confidentiality agreement. Apart from this, over 200 butlers and cooks were flown in from India and Thailand, while Michelin-star chef Sergi Arola prepared the culinary spread and the couple cut a 60-kg, six-storey-cake.
6. Vanisha Mittal and Amit Bhatia: Over ₹200 crores
In 2004, Laxmi Mittal’s daughter Vanisha Mittal married Amit Bhatia in a three-day affair that took place in France.
Setting the record for the most expensive wedding of the year, the festivities included a private performance by Kylie Minogue, a fireworks display at the Eiffel Tower gardens, and the who’s who of Bollywood on the guest list. The wedding itself took place at Vaux-le-Vicomte, a historic 17th-century castle.
7. Lalit Tanwar and Yogita Jaunapuria: ₹250 crore
From a helicopter being gifted to the groom, to a safari suit, a shawl, ₹2,100 in cash and silver coin gifted to each guest, to a performance by actor Neha Dhupia, Lalit Tanwar and Yogita Jaunapuria’s Delhi wedding in 2011 set new examples of what flamboyance looks like.
8. Sonam Vaswani and Navin Fabiani: ₹210 crore
The Vaswani-Fabiani wedding was a lesson in what happens when billionaires get married. The #SoNavSoFab wedding took place in Vienna, Austria and singer Bruno Mars performed at the wedding festivities.
Touted as the most lavish wedding of the year, the welcome party for the guests was held at Vienna’s Palais Ferstel, the mehendi took place at the city’s Palais Liechtenstein Park and included a performance by Sukhbir, and the wedding happened at the Belvedere Palace.
9. Vikram Chatwal and Priya Sachdev: ₹100 crore
Spread over ten days and three cities, hotelier and actor Vikram Chatwal’s wedding to model Priya Sachdev in 2006 was a prime example of how flamboyant can a wedding really get. The guest list included national and international celebrities like business tycoon Lakshmi Mittal, models Naomi Campbell and Patricia Velásquez, Prince Nikolaos of Greece, former US President Bill Clinton, rapper P. Diddy, etc.
However, after 5 years of marriage, the two divorced in 2011.
10. Vineeta Agarwal and Muqit Teja: ₹130 crore
Daughter of billionaire Pramod Agarwal, Vineeta married Muqit Taneja at the San Clemente Palace in Venice, in a private ceremony with 800 guests. The wedding festivities included a performance by Shakira, while the elaborate wedding decor, under the supervision of decorator Sumant Jayakrishna, included flowers that were specially imported from Paris.
11. Mallika Reddy and Siddharth Reddy: ₹100 crore
Industrialist GVK Reddy’s granddaughter Mallika Reddy’s wedding to Indu Group’s scion Siddharth Reddy redefined “lavish affair”. Over 6,000 guests attended the wedding. From chartering outstation guests to serving everyone in silver thaalis, the Reddys certainly spared no expense for the wedding.
12. Payal Bansal and Deepak Kanodia: ₹100 crore
Payal Bansal, daughter of real-estate mogul Basant Bansal, got married to Deepak Kanodia in a star-studded affair in Turkey. While Isha Kopikar and Celina Jaitley performed at the wedding, over 150 chefs and assistants were flown in from India, for the wedding.
13. Adel Sajan and Sana Khan: ₹200 crore
Taking a page out of ‘Dil Dhadakne Do‘, Adel Sajan and Sana Khan hosted a cruise wedding at the Concordia-Class Costa Fascinosa cruise ship that sailed from Barcelona in Spain to Marseilles and Cannes in France, ultimately ending in Savona, Italy.
From personalized Harrods’ hampers for guests to a sangeet performance that saw a jugalbandi between Badshah and Vishal and Shekhar, to a reception where Gauhar Khan and Sushmita Sen gave speeches and the couple cut a 10-layer-cake, this #cruisewedding definitely sailed smooth!
Oh, as for the Shloka Mehta-Akash Ambani wedding, the total expense is still a mystery. But it’s fair to assume, that with pre-wedding festivities in Switzerland, a possible performance by Maroon 5, and the entire Bollywood in attendance, it’s total expense might just top every other wedding on the list.
All figures are in approximations and not adjusted for inflation.