India is witnessing the biggest wedding of the year, and probably the most expensive one too, as Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal tie the nuptial knot at an extravagant wedding ceremony in Mumbai today. Though the celebrations for the Isha Ambani-Anand Piramal wedding are going on for about four months -- with a royal engagement ceremony in Lake Como in Italy and pre-wedding bash in the City of Lakes Udaipur -- today's event will be held at the Ambanis' residence in Antilia, where the couple will finally get hitched. The 27-storey Antilla, one of the world's most expensive private residences, is all decked up to host the wedding of the year. However, the wedding celebrations are far from over, with reports suggesting the festivities will be held throughout the week.
All the A-listers of Bollywood, including the big three Shahrukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan, have already danced in the pre-wedding ceremony of the Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal. Pop queen Beyonce Knowles was also seen giving a powerful performance at the pre-wedding event. Not only that, some of the biggest names in the world politics, including former US first lady and secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and former secretary of state John Kerry, also marked their presence and danced to the Bollywood tunes.
And today's wedding ritual, which will be attended by who's who from the world of B-Town, business, and politics, could see the largest gathering of the most influential people at one place. Isha Ambani is the daughter of Nita Ambani and Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in India, whose company Reliance Industries (RIL) is the biggest conglomerate in the country. Anand Piramal is the son of billionaire Ajay Piramal and Swati Piramal, who own the Piramal Group, a global business conglomerate.
Here are 10 most important things you need to know about the Isha Ambani-Anand Piramal wedding.
The wedding festivities, which also include a two-day pre-wedding extravaganza in Udaipur, are expected to cost upward of $10 million, say Reliance insiders, though some reports pegged the tab at $100 million for India Inc's most expensive wedding.
The Ambanis will do an encore as Isha's twin brother Akash is also walking down the aisle sometime next year.
Unlike the Udaipur affair, where thousands of guests were invited for the pre-wedding event, the nuptials are expected to be a smaller affair with a pruned list of about 600 guests. The guest-list is restricted to close relatives and friends of the two families.
A few senior politicians, including Pranab Mukherjee, Rajnath Singh, Prakash Javadekar, Mamta Banerjee, Vijay Rupani, Chandrababu Naidu and Devendra Fadnavis among others have confirmed their presence for the Wednesday evening jamboree.
All Bollywood biggies, including the Bachchan family and the Khans, have started arriving at the big event.
However, there was no confirmation on whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be dropping in.
Guests have already started trickling into the 27- storey tower-house and specially booked hotels nearby from early Tuesday. The traffic police said the guest movements during the morning peak hours resulted in a bit of snarl.
After the wedding, the Piramal family will host a reception on Thursday, which will be followed with an open-air wedding reception hosted by the Ambanis on Friday at a garden in the centre of the swanky BKC business district.
There is also a separate do for the employees of both Reliance Industries and Piramal Group on Saturday.
Oscar and Grammy-winning music director AR Rehman and tabla maestro Zakir Hussain are expected to play at the BKC dos, reported PTI.
Here are some of the best pictures from the big wedding event.
Mumbai: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan-Abhishek Bachchan with their daughter Aradhya, Priyanka Chopra-Nick Jonas and Sachin Tendulkar-Anjali Tendulkar arrive at Antilia for the wedding of Isha Ambani-Anand Piramal. pic.twitter.com/BMymwW6ZkU