The Wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant
After seven months of extravagant pre-wedding celebrations, Anant Ambani, the son of India’s richest man, completed his long-awaited marriage to pharmaceutical heiress Radhika Merchant before thousands of guests in July 2024.
Police closed roads surrounding the Ambani-owned, 16,000-capacity Jio World Convention Center ahead of a red-carpet-style arrival event. Attendees dressed the part, streaming past photographers in custom sarees, lehengas, and kurtas at an event that may set forthcoming trends in Indian wedding fashion.
Once inside the venue, which was transformed into a miniature version of the holy Indian city of Varanasi, celebrities including Priyanka Chopra and John Cena were seen dancing and letting loose. Footage widely shared on social media also showed members of the Ambani family dancing on stage with Indian singer, Daler Mehndi. The other performers included Afrobeats star Rema, who performed his hit song “Calm Down.”
The wedding rituals, including exchanging garlands by the couple and walking around the sacred fire, began Friday and were completed past midnight.
Check out: The Pre Wedding Festivities of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant
Bride and Groom Looks
As for the couple, the groom first arrived on the red carpet in a golden sherwani paired with sneakers, which he later changed for the ceremony. The bride dazzled in hand-embroidered bridal couture by the Indian label Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla.
Radhika’s ensemble is Abu Sandeep’s intricate interpretation of ‘Panetar’ - the Gujarati tradition of brides wearing red and white. The ivory Zardozi cut-work ensemble consists of a trailing ghagra layered with a second detachable trail, a 5-meter head veil, and a tissue shoulder dupatta. The ghagra glitters with three borders of red, Its workmanship is the finest amalgamation of Naqshi, Saadi, and Zardozi symmetrically hand-embroidered in intricate floral booties that are lavishly decorated with stones, sequins, tamba tikkis and a touch of red Resham. The head veil has impossibly delicate jaali and cut-work while the detachable trail is a Zardozi marvel of 80 inches. The outfit is complete with a fully embroidered red shoulder dupatta that uplifts the silhouette with its maximal drama.
The wedding dress of bride Radhika Merchant, worn on the second day of her marriage celebrations to Anant Ambani, son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani was designed by Indian fashion designer Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, who collaborated with visual artist Jayasri Burman to hand-paint 12 panels on the Indian lehenga worn by the bride, using special Italian fabric.
Ahead of her “vidai,” the ceremony in which Indian brides symbolically bid farewell to their relatives before joining their groom’s family, Merchant changed into an opulent red and gold outfit featuring a woven blouse, lehenga, veil, and embroidered head covering.
The Guest List
Kim and Khloé Kardashian, Nick Jonas and Priyanka Chopra and former British prime ministers Tony Blair and Boris Johnson were just some of the famous faces who flew into Mumbai to attend the star-studded event.
The wedding also attracted many of the biggest names in Indian entertainment, sport, business, and politics, from Bollywood stars like Rajinikanth and Sanjay Dutt, to former president Ram Nath Kovind, the chief ministers of various states, and numerous members of the country’s revered cricket team.
John Cena walked the red carpet in an embroidered sky blue sherwani and white pants, while Jonas sparkled in a baby pink version — made from a bouclé-style woven fabric embedded with sequins — and matching satin trousers. Jonas arrived with his wife and actor, Priyanka Chopra, who opted for an intricately embellished sunshine yellow sari.
