Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding celebrations reached a crescendo at Mumbai's Jio World Convention Center (owned by the Ambani Family) with the varmala ceremony (exchange of garlands between the bridge and groom) on 12th July 2024. But this is not the end; celebrities from around the world have descended on Mumbai for a 3-day wedding celebration.
Rihanna, Katy Perry, Cannes and glass palaces, that was just the beginning. After months of planning and one star-studded pre-wedding celebration after another, Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding – 2024's most talked about event – is finally here. Asia's richest billionaire, Mukesh Ambani and his wife, Nita Ambani, are no strangers to lavish weddings – they had Beyonce perform at daughter Isha Ambani's 2018 nuptials and followed it up with middle child, Akash Ambani's 2019 wedding – but this, the youngest Ambani child's wedding, blows them both out of the water.
Here is everything you need to know about Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding.
Who is Anant Ambani?
The youngest son of Mukesh and Nita Ambani, Anant is partial heir to his parents’ $120 billion fortune. He graduated from Brown University in the States before joining his older sister and brother, Isha and Akash at Reliance Industries, the focal enterprise of the Ambani business empire.
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Since 2020, Anant Ambani has overseen Reliance’s energy business and aims to make it a Net Carbon Zero company by 2035. His individual net worth (so far) is approximately $40 billion and he is also on the board of the conglomerate’s non-profit, the Reliance Foundation and is one of the directors of tech company, Jio Platforms Limited. A passionate animal rights activist, Anant's passion project, Vantara – a 3,000 acres elephant rehabilitation centre – was the real reason why the pre-wedding celebrations kicked off in Jamnagar, Gujarat.
Who is Radhika Merchant?
Radhika Merchant was born in 1994, in Mumbai, to pharmaceutical tycoons Viren and Shaila Merchant, who founded Encore Healthcare; they are amongst India’s richest billionaires. She studied political science at New York University and returned to India to join her parents’ business. Now, Radhika serves on Encore Healthcare's board of directors, alongside her sister, Anjali.
Anant Ambani’s new wife is also a trained Bharatanatyam dancer: after eight years of learning classical dance at Shree Nibha Arts Dance Academy in Mumbai, she graduated in 2022.
How did Anant and Radhika meet?
Given their family background, Anant and Radhika were part of the same social circles right from childhood. Romance blossomed in 2017 during a long, leisurely drive with friends. In 2018, the couple went Instagram-official, with a cute photo in matching green robes.
Soon after, Radhika became a fixture in all important Ambani family functions: from Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal’s 2018 nuptials, to the 2019 wedding of Akash Ambani and Shloka Mehta. By this time, Anant and Radhika’s relationship was pretty much confirmed, and any doubt was quelled in 2022 when Mukesh and Nita Ambani hosted Radhika’s Arangetram ceremony (a Bharatanatyam dancer’s graduation performance) at the Jio World Centre in Mumbai which they built.
When is Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding?
Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding takes place in Mumbai on 12th July 2024.
Where is Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding venue?
After the Rihanna-starring Hastakshar (signature) ceremony in Jamnagar, Gujarat, and the second pre-wedding celebration that traipsed through Italy on a luxury liner and concluded in Cannes with a concert featuring Katy Perry, Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding finally takes place on 12th July 2024 at Jio World Convention Center in Mumbai.
Located in the Bandra Kurla Complex, the city's central business district, the Jio World Convention Center spans 1,03,012 sqm and features five modular halls, 25 meeting rooms and a ballroom, offering flexible solutions to host big and small events. And if Anant Ambani and Radhika's fairy-tale pre-wedding celebration is any indication, the venue will be transformed into a magical wonderland for the 12th July wedding.
Typically, the baraat – the groom's wedding procession – starts from his parent's home and after the wedding ceremony, the new couple come back to the family home for yet another round of blessings and celebrations. Suitably, Nita and Mukesh Ambani's Mumbai home, Antilia, a $2 billion mansion in the sky (and it's approach road), has been decked out in Indian flowers and gloriously golden lighting. As the 27-storey house towers over the vicinity, people can also see its terraces lit up for the occasion.
Who is planning Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding?
Since the beginning of Anant and Radhika’s wedding season in March this year, Bollywood fashion designer-turned-wedding-planner extraordinaire, Manish Malhotra has been closely involved in bringing mother of the groom Nita Ambani’s lavish visions to life.
For the wedding, expect Malhotra to team up with other creatives including Bollywood set designer Omung Kumar, who recently transformed the Jio World Centre into a mirror-clad palace for Anant and Radhika's sangeet ceremony that saw the entire Ambani family on stage, dancing to a hit Bollywood number.
What does Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding invitation look like?
According to an unboxing video, Anant and Radhika’s wedding invitation is a lot to take in… but in a good way. Through its opulence, the Ambanis’ love for Indian craft shines bright: The invitation box includes an intricate silver temple and a silver book with different cards for each wedding function.
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Hindu iconography abounds: from a hand-embroidered depiction of ‘vaikunth’, the eternal abode of Lord Vishnu, to Sanskrit sholkas (hymns) painted on the red lacquered box and illustrations of deities on precious metals included in the invitation set.
Who is performing at Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding?
The couple's pre-wedding celebrations have already featured private concerts by Rihanna and Katy Perry. The recent sangeet ceremony was capped by a show by Justin Bieber who was reportedly paid USD10 million.
So who is performing at Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding on 12th July? According to the grapevine, it could be Adele or Drake or Lana del Ray – or given that this is the last big Ambani wedding for while, maybe all three? After all, a big fat Indian wedding is not a one-day affair and Anant and Radhika's wedding celebrations are mapped across three nights!
Celebrities at Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding
Kim Kardashian and sister Khloe have just landed in Mumbai, joining an ever-growing list of international celebrities attending Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding. Priyanka Chopra-Jonas – a close friend of the Ambani family – and husband Nick have also arrived. Boxer Mike Tyson is coming too.
Cannes queen, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan – who was missing from the most recent pre-wedding celebrations – will be in attendance along with husband Abhishek and Amitabh Bachchan, her father-in-law. Plus, Janhvi Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan and the young Bollywood brigade will be out in full force. Shah Rukh Khan, Aamir Khan etc are also expected to attend.
Leading politicians likely to grace the wedding include Hillary Clinton, Former British Prime Ministers Boris Johnson and Tony Blair, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Noted industrialists you can expect include: Gautam Adani, Asia’s second-richest man, Saudi Aramco’s Amin Nasser, FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and Jay Lee of Samsung Electronic.
Nita Ambani, Isha Ambani and Shloka Ambani are the real stars of Anant and Radhika wedding
In a celebration with no dearth of celebrities – from Bill Gates and Hillary Clinton, to Ivanka Trump, Karlie Kloss and Mark Zuckerberg, and the cast of every recent hit Bollywood movie, from Shah Rukh Khan to Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Janhvi Kapoor – the real stars of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding season are the Ambani Women; their jewels and couture daring to outshine the bride and groom.
We had barely gotten over Nita Ambani’s soap bar-sized emerald necklace and gold embroidered saris from the couple’s Jamnagar celebrations, when the groom’s sister, Isha Ambani unleashed her inner fashion star. Across the multi-day cruise through the Mediterranean and Cannes, she donned a range of couture looks – from a ruby red Tamara Ralph gown to a bespoke number from Daniel Roseberry’s bedazzled Schiaparelli haute couture S/S 2024 collection, Schiaparalien, complete with robot baby twins (haute couture toys from the same collection, depicting Isha’s twins). Back in Mumbai for the sangeet, Isha upped the ante with a royal blue Schiaparelli sari.
When she wasn’t tapping Manish Malhotra to recreate an iconic Bollywood look from 2001, Shloka Ambani, Anant’s sister-in-law, was spotted in custom Versace and Valentino looks.
So, how much did Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding cost?
After adding up the pre-wedding celebration costs (Rihanna reportedly went home with $5 million for her barely-there dance moves in Gujarat), invitations that cost upwards of $7000 each and logistic – security, private jets, luxury liners – Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding cost is $600 million plus, according to The Guardian. That figure is even not even a dent in dad Mukesh's richest Asian status.
