The accepted belief that marriages are made in heaven and rejoiced on earth is true to many extent, because it is a special bond shared between two souls, who tie the wedding knot after promising to be companions for a lifetime. It is the physical, mental, cultural and spiritual bond of two souls bringing immense stability and substance to human relationships. Marriage which holds a special meaning in India is been solemnized in different manners differing extensively.
Below listed are the five most popular weddings held lavishly with grandeur and pomp.
Vanisha Mittal and Arvind Bhatia – Lakshmi Mittal splurged grandiosely on the wedding of his 23 years old Vanisha making it the most expensive wedding ever held and one of the best weddings of all time. It featured 1,000 guests from all over the world, 20-page-thick silver-cased invitation cards and five days of events staged in some of the France’s most famous settings and ambiance. Mr. Mittal hired the 17th century ‘finest chateau and garden’ in France. Vanisha who has a degree from London’s School of Oriental and African Studies decided to tie a knot with her banker fiancé Arvind Bhatia in 2004 in France. This wedding witnessed the presence of the famous International pop star Kylie Minogue and also the Bollywood biggies like Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar, Sharukh Khan, Juhi Chawla, Rani Mukherjee etc. The dance sequences were choreographed by Farah Khan, a well known Bollywood choreographer . The cuisine was entirely Indian vegetarian delicacies. Guests from India were flown down in twelve private jets. The wedding celebrations went on for 6 grand days. The bride adorn an Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla creation and the wedding costed 220 crore approx.
Vikram Chatwal and Priya Sachdeva– Vikram Chatwal who was named one of the world’s most eligible bachelors by a BBC Television Program tied the knot to an Indian model, Priya Sachdev in 2006. His wedding is known to be the 3rd most expensive till date with a cost of 20 million US dollars, which spread over three cities in India. Vikram Chatwal son of an Indian-American businessman, Sant Singh Chatwal is the founder of Hampshire Hotels and Resorts. It took almost ten days for the ceremonies to be completed and each one had an exquisite theme to it. On 13th February, the couple had their first wedding ceremony. The Hindu wedding took place on February 18th followed by a Sikh wedding the next day. The celebrity guest list couldn’t get bigger and royal than this. It had names like Lakshmi Mittal, Naomi Campbell, Bill Clinton and several Indian Celebs; all transported on private chartered jets. This was the fourth most expensive wedding ceremony ever with a cost of USD $20 million spread across many cities. The most spectacular element about the wedding was the mix of class and tradition. Flowers, candles, private jets, the most expensive decorations and high profile invitees were some of the highlights of this grand wedding.
The Sahara Wedding – Subroto Roy spent a whooping Rs.552 crores for his sons’ wedding in 2004. Both his sons, Seemanto and Sushanto got married on the same day in the Sahara Village in Lucknow. The entire venue was decked up like a royal bride and lit up with traditional torch lights, hundreds of lamps and fancy glasses. This was a glitzy and glamorous wedding which saw celebs such as Anil Ambani, Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai, Late Shri Bal Thackeray etc. The invites sent to these VIPs to this lavish wedding had a special chip embedded in it for the easy identification of guests and to make sure that no gate crashers could enter. This wedding sent out a very noble and a soulful vibe when Subroto Roy got 101 underprivileged girls married on the occasion of his sons’ wedding. The food comprised of 101 palate pleasing cuisines from all over the world. Food was distributed to over one and a half lakh beggars. The weddings of Subrata Roy’s sons, Sushanto with Richa and Seemanto with Chandini took place in Lucknow in 2004. Sahara chief made sure that there was no dearth of glamour, glitz and style in the weddings.The seven vows of Indian marriages were inscribed on the pillars of the gateway.
The Reddy Wedding – The wedding of Mallika Reddy, daughter of the Hyderabad-based industrialist G.V. Krishna Reddy with Siddharth Reddy, the young scion of the Indu Group was the grandest wedding in Hyderabad city in 2011 with the bevy of Bollywood celebs, business, fashion and politics present. The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh graced the reception which was held in New Delhi. The wedding settings and mandap was designed by celebrity designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla which adorned with red velvet and zardosi work. It was said that special guests received solitaire rings and ace designer sarees. The food was purely vegetarian with enormous varieties. Indian classical dances kept the audiences entertained, which retained the traditional theme of the wedding. The celebrations were billed to be over 100 crores. The choice of wedding venue – the expansive grounds of the airport arena – was apparently to accommodate the large number of visitors, music and dance from talented Bollywood actors . Guests and stars were put up at five different five-star hotels in Hyderabad – Falaknuma , Novotel and Taj-GVK properties. The massive security arrangements had been the talk of the local newspapers for many days altogether.
The Pramod Mittal Wedding – Pramod Mittal, Lakshmi Mittal’s younger brother, organized the biggest of all Indian weddings in December 2013. The marriage of his daughter Shristi Mittal to Gulraj Behl had a whooping celebration of 505 crore. The three-day wedding ceremony took place in Barcelona, Spain, and is said to have brought the city to a standstill. Helicopters hovered over the venue clicking aerial pictures of the ceremonies. The wedding featured a stunning display of water jets and lights that tap to the tunes of Chariots of Fire. Michelin star chef, Sergi Arola, took hold of the kitchen and more than two hundreds chefs were flown in from India, Spain and Thailand to prepare the wedding spread. The cake was a six tiered 60 kg beauty. Fireworks concluded the ceremony with dazzle and glitters.