If you’re wondering how to end up in the category of “most memorable weddings in history,” your first step, besides hosting a $100 million wedding, would be to book Beyoncé. Last weekend, Isha Ambani, daughter of the richest man in India, celebrated her pre-wedding festivities with her fiancé, Anand Piramal, executive director of the Piramal Group. The event was held at the Oberoi Udaivilas hotel in Udaipur, Rajasthan, in India. This luxurious, week-long celebration included appearances from tons of celebrities from both the U.S. and India. The VIP list included newlyweds Chopra and Nick Jonas, 21st Century Fox CEO James Murdoch, Hillary Clinton, Arianna Huffington, legendary Indian cricket player Sachin Tendulkar, and countless Bollywood stars.
Guests came in from all over on chartered planes and in luxury cars to celebrate this power couple’s union, which will bring together two business empires from India's wealthiest and most influential families. It will also bring together two longtime friends, since the bride and groom have known each other since childhood.
Ambani's father, Mukesh Ambani, is the 19th richest man in the world, with a net worth of $43.4 billion, according to Forbes Magazine. He is chairman of Reliance Industries, an oil and gas company that his father began as a small textile manufacturer in the 1960s. Later in 2016, Ambani founded the 4G phone service, Jio.
Ambani's mother, Nita Ambani, is a well-known and powerful international philanthropist. She founded the Dhirubhai Ambani International School in Mumbai, oversees the Reliance Foundation, and is India's first female member of the International Olympic Committee.
The bride-to-be, Isha Ambani, is a graduate of the Yale College of Business. After graduation, she worked as a business analyst in New York, according to the Economic Times, and she later joined the boards of Jio and Reliance Retail, a branch of Reliance Industries, and earned an MBA from Stanford.
Her soon-to-be husband, Anand Piramal, 33, is the executive director of the Piramal Group, which is a business founded by his father, Ajay Piramal. Ajay Piramal has an estimated net worth of $4.2 billion, according to Forbes, making him the 24th wealthiest person in India.
Anand Piramal has degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard. He founded Piramal Realty and Piramal Swasthya, a rural health-care initiative.
With all these rich and famous under one roof, the two wealthy families made sure that their wedding celebration would also give back. When guests arrived, they were given access to an app that mapped out the wedding festivities, one of which included a bazaar to showcase the work of local artisans. They also donated food to the city of Udaipur to feed 5,100 people three meals a day for four days, a close family relative told Bloomberg.
With all the luxuries and fun going around for this wonderful celebration, this Big Fat Indian Wedding got the upgrade of the century when the news broke that Beyoncé would be performing at their wedding. A celebrity of such magnitude gathered a great amount of international attention from both Beyoncé fans and curious minds from around the world.
The performance given by Queen Bey lasted a total of two days, which was part of the couple’s traditional party that takes place before the wedding. According to reports, the private concert for the bride and groom’s guests featured Bey’s beloved hits “Crazy in Love," "Naughty Girl," and "Perfect," just to name a few. And the show wouldn’t be a show without memorable looks, so in addition to a noteworthy performance, Beyoncé had a number of extraordinary outfit changes. One piece in particular was chosen to show apperciation for the Indian culture as well as for the bride and groom. This outfit, a red dress from Indian designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, included a headpiece and bracelets that resembled traditional Indian accessories.
According to India Today, along with Beyoncé’s show-stopping performance, another notable performance was given by Clinton and former secretary of state John F. Kerry. They both danced the bhangra, which is a Punjabi folk dance, on stage with the Ambani family.
Even though the festivities in Udaipur ended with the weekend, the wedding took place in Mumbai last Wednesday at Antilia, the Ambani family home that has a staff of 600 people, six floors of parking, 27 stories, and three helipads.
