Kim Kardashian took the plunge and donned a white bridal outfit, kicking off one of the most extravagant weddings in history on Friday.
After weeks of ceremony and suspense, Anant Ambani, the son of India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, will marry Radhika Merchant, the daughter of a wealthy pharmaceutical mogul, later this afternoon in Mumbai in a traditional Hindu ceremony.
Kim shared a glamorous photo of her first wedding look on Instagram, consisting of a white off-the-shoulder crop top and matching skirt, as she and Khloe hopped in a rickshaw en route to the ceremony.
Khloe also showed off her incredible figure in a sexy nude dress, with both stars also wearing bindis on their foreheads in preparation for the Hindu wedding.
The ostentatious wedding will last three days and is estimated to have cost a whopping £100 million. The guest list includes Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Ivanka Trump, Bill Gates, David and Victoria Beckham and other industry luminaries, Bollywood stars, pop stars and leading politicians.
Kim Kardashian made the bold move of stepping out in a white bridal ensemble as she and Khloe joined the star-studded list of the most extravagant weddings in Indian history on Friday
The two sisters took to Instagram to share a glimpse of their first outfits for their three-day wedding, hours after they arrived in Mumbai for the lavish ceremony.
Billionaire Anant Ambani, 29, will marry his bride Radhika Merchant in a three-day wedding starting on Friday; an insider described the £250million nuptials as ‘the best of the best’
Justin Bieber performed at a pre-wedding party for guests, known as ‘Sangeet’, and was reportedly paid £7million. According to reports, Adele, Drake or Lana Del Rey will provide the entertainment at Sunday night’s reception.
This weekend’s glittering events are the culmination of four months of festivities, which are said to have cost a total of £250 million.
But astonishingly, Ambani could be shelling out almost double that amount for his youngest son’s wedding, if you factor in the lavish gifts Anant and Radhika received, and the millions more spent entertaining some of the world’s biggest stars.
Ambani, 67, who is the ninth richest man in the world according to Forbes with a fortune of £100 billion, has already gifted the couple a £62 million luxury villa on the Palm Jumeriah in Dubai. The villa is over 3,000 square feet in size, has 10 bedrooms and has its own private beach.
The couple also received a Bentley Continental GTC Speed worth £500,000 and a dazzling collection of bespoke jewellery and clothing worth millions of pounds.
Ambani’s glamorous wife Nita, 60, gave her daughter-in-law a stunning pearl and diamond choker, worth an estimated £10 million, just one of dozens of bespoke multimillion-pound pieces created especially for her. Anant was given a £2 million Cartier brooch.
Reports also suggest that the Ambanis have booked 100 private jets to fly their illustrious guests from across the world to India for the festivities. Also, all five-star hotels in Mumbai are fully booked for their stay, which is being paid for by the family.
Insiders estimate that when all aspects of the wedding are taken into account, from travel to hotels, gifts, clothes, food and entertainment, the final cost could be approaching a staggering £500 million.
Kim shared a glamorous photo of her first wedding look on Instagram, which consisted of a white off-the-shoulder crop top and matching skirt
Khloe then shared a sweet video of herself and Kim as they traveled to the lavish ceremony, which officially marks the start of the three-day wedding celebration
It comes just hours after Kim and Khloe were photographed arriving in Mumbai for the wedding, with the reality star going braless in a plunging dress
An insider told MailOnline: ‘The figures are truly astonishing and hard to believe, but when it comes to this wedding, literally no expense has been spared.
“It’s been over a year in the planning and hundreds of people have worked on it because the Ambanis want this to be a wedding the world will never forget. They are not shy about showing off their wealth, especially when it comes to family occasions, and this is a ridiculously expensive wedding that has been going on for months.”
In March, Rihanna performed for guests during three days of pre-wedding festivities in the western Indian city of Jamnagar. She was paid £5 million for a 90-minute performance.
In preparation for this week’s festivities, Ambani chartered a luxury cruise ship called Celebrity Ascent to accommodate 800 guests who boarded for a four-day cruise of the Mediterranean and enjoyed private performances from stars including Katie Perry, Pitbull and the Backstreet Boys.
All the gorgeous costumes for the bride and members of both families were designed by Manish Malhotra, India’s foremost designer and also the creative director of the wedding.
He has worked closely with Mrs Ambani, one of the country’s biggest philanthropists, and was the driving force behind the look and feel of the occasion.
The traditional wedding ceremony begins at 3pm Indian time with a ‘baraat’, a procession of the groom and his friends and family dancing to the accompaniment of live musicians.
They will be heading to the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, a sprawling cultural and business centre with a capacity of 16,000 people. Built by the Ambani family, it will host all three days of the festivities.
The 16,000-capacity Jio World Convention Centre, owned by the groom’s father, will be the main venue for the Hindu wedding ceremony on July 12
The wedding ceremony will be led by Hindu priests who will chant ancient Sanskrit verses and the couple will walk around a sacred fire. They will also take seven vows to solemnize their marriage.
About 5,000 people are expected. All roads around the location are closed to traffic that is not attending weddings.
Office workers in Mumbai have been told to work from home for the next three days due to the large number of VIP convoys passing through the city.
On Saturday, a traditional ‘divine blessing ceremony’ known as ‘The Shubh Aashirwad’ will take place at the same venue where a sparkling reception is also held on Sunday.
The dates for the ceremonies were chosen by a Hindu priest according to auspicious days in the birth charts of Anant and Radhika. They are both 29 years old.
About 100 chefs prepare a variety of Indian and European delicacies for the guests. They have all been instructed on what to wear, according to the theme of the wedding.
The dress code for the wedding ceremony on Friday is ‘traditional Indian attire’, with ‘formal Indian’ for the following Saturday and ‘posh Indian’ for the reception the following day.
Invitations were sent out last month in an ornate red box containing a silver temple model, gifts and a handmade pashmina shawl. Each invitation was estimated to cost around £7,000.
Guests attending this weekend’s events will also receive gift boxes containing an array of luxury items.
During the festivities leading up to the wedding in March, guests were presented with Louis Vuitton bags, custom-designed sports bags, gold chains, expensive shoes, luxurious nightwear and handmade scented candles.
In the days leading up to the wedding, a number of other events took place at Antilla, the Ambani family’s 27-storey Mumbai mansion, which cost £800 million to build.
The luxury property features a health club with a gym and dance studio, a ballroom, at least one swimming pool and a 50-seat cinema plus three helipads and parking for 168 cars. It has 600 employees and is in the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s largest and most expensive private residence.
This is where Anant and Radhika will live, in line with the Indian tradition of couples staying with the groom’s family after their wedding.
Radhika is the daughter of Indian pharmacist Viren Merchant and works for his company, while Anant is employed by his father.
They both studied at universities in the US and met in 2017 through mutual friends and started dating shortly after.
Mr Ambani has two other children and is chairman of Reliance Industries, India’s largest company by market capitalisation with major interests in energy, telecommunications and entertainment.
In 2018, he threw his daughter Isha the most expensive wedding India had ever seen, reportedly costing £80 million.
Beyoncé performed and guests attended receptions on Italy’s Lake Como, as well as in Mumbai and Rajasthan.
