This entry was posted
on Sunday, March 3rd, 2024 at 9:10:00 pm and is filed under Celebrity News, Destination Weddings.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Food, Fashion and Monies: The full download from the Ambani Pre-wedding Bash
Celebrity News, Destination Weddings - Mar 3, 2024
The Anant Ambani-Radhika Merchant celebrations in Jamnagar could well possibly earn the title of “the biggest pre-wedding celebration ever”. Industrialists Mukesh and Nita Ambani invited over a thousand guests for the grandest engagement celebrations and present in the Gujarat city were not just the newsmakers from India, but big names from across the world of entertainment and business.
Much before the celebration, news feeds featured videos from Jamnagar showing the arrival of the celebrity entourages at the airport.
The Wardrobe Planner, Invites and Stationery designed by Mumbai design company Itchha Talreja Designs, were circulated all over and even forwarded extensively on Whatsapp. “Who is the wedding planner”? was the question on everyone’s mind but like most Indian billionaire weddings this one too, had not one, or even two or three, but multiple teams working behind the scenes. As per wedding industry hearsay, over 10 event management companies, several wedding design boutiques, and numerous production firms and floral suppliers like Interflora, were roped in to work on the behemoth project.
The biggest challenge reportedly for all the teams was prepping up all the living spaces and venues in a city which has at least not in recent history seen social events of this scale. All the hotels were newly built and unlike Mumbai, Delhi, Jaipur where there are multiple luxury hotels hosting the most high profile weddings, everything here had to be designed, quality checked, and built from scratch for all the visiting dignitaries, making it a task like no other.
According to an insider there were several crack teams comprising family and friends of the Ambanis, officials of Reliance Industries Limited and Antilia, who were in-charge of supervising the multiple agencies. And while Manish Malhotra was the Creative Director, select representatives of luxury international brands were also there to orchestrate everything from event design to styling setups for the hosts and their key guests. It was not just hundreds of salon staff like hairstylists and saree drapers who were there; even some of India’s top bridal stylists like Ami Patel were reportedly roped in to help international heavy weights with their Indian wardrobes.
Filling up the menu at the Jamnagar do was an array of food brands–from gourmet gift and desserts, and QSRs serving their finest. In addition to caterers and hotel chefs, some of the country’s best casual fine dining brands were all roped in. The specially curated menu covered everything from the welcome gift and room hampers, to hospitality lounges, in-room dining and meals served at different hotels and functions.
And if you’re feeling some FOMO, some of the iconic and trending restaurants and cafes that made a show were: Golden Dragon, Subko, Ayubs, The Table, Gustoso, Blue Tokai, Boojee, Magnolia Bakery, Laduree and many more. UK’s most Instagrammable cafe, EL & N, was also there.
For those crunching the numbers, GQ India speculated over how much Rihanna would have charged for her performance at the private event. It quoted industry reports which said her typical charges would be anywhere between $1.5 million (Rs 12 crore) to $8 million (Rs 66 crore). BBC spoke about how the extravagant pre-wedding event is in keeping with the Ambani family’s record of hosting lavish wedding parties, and how in 2018, Beyonce had performed at Isha Ambani’s pre-wedding bash in Udaipur. Bloomberg wrote about how the guest list for the Anant Ambani’s wedding appears to have more RSVPs from global corporate titans than the weddings of the two older Ambani’s children in 2018 and 2019, underscoring Reliance’s growing clout and role as a conduit to the Indian economy for global tech, media and energy giants.
Netizens got to live the Ambani life even before the celebrations started in Jamnagar- videos of bollywood stars entering Mumbai airport to jet off to Jamnagar kept everyone engaged. The wardrobe planner may be a regular feature for those who attend destination weddings; but it soon made the rounds on Whatsapp and for a large majority of urban Indians it was a sneak peek into the world of India’s rich and the theme-wise programs for destination weddings. From Jamnagar, netizens watched how celebrities were welcomed; many were actually amused to watch top bollywood celebrities like Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor get into volvo buses and not luxury sedans.
In speeches delivered by Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant both spoke about how Nita Ambani worked round the clock with the event teams to orchestrate the celebrations in Jamnagar. Radhika mentioned how she was in for quite a surprise when she reached Jamnagar because Nita aunty had taken all the stress of planning and thanks to her massive effort both she and her fiance could have the most wonderful time. Radhika’s words quite summarise the unique dynamics of Indian weddings and wedding planning–many parents are always happy to take on as much respònsibility as possible, and as long as parents are planning it all, Indian weddings will continue to be grand and grander affairs.
The set was designed by Amrita Mahal with installations & florals by Heena Patel of Amaahyaaj. Inspired by the hues of kesar, vibrant palette of orange and red, and created with traditional treasures like haldi, kumkum, mauli, sopari, coconuts, chandan, bangles, chunris, sarees and temple bells to form enchanting
tassels and floral marvels.
The Wedding Makers
Logistics and Technicals (Main Agency): DNA Entertainment Networks
Overall Event Coordination: Seventy EMG | Seven Steps
Decor/ Design/ Florals/ Production: Seventy EMG | Seven Steps, Afreen Florist, Amrita Mahal, Devika Narain, Dinaz Noria, Floral Stems, Flower Lab India, Heena Patel (Amaahyaaj), Interflora, Larly Bahl, Magnanimous, Omung Kumar, Sumant Jayakrishnan, The Creative Company, The Doli Diary, Three Entertainment
Audio & Backline (Day 1: Arena & Day 3: Temple): SNL Pro
Furniture: Bhadewala, FIR, Rentastic, Sagar Services
Caterers (Main Events): CCI Delhi, Diva by Ritu Dalmia, Foodlink, Gyanjee Caterers, Indian Accent, Laduree, Popular, Sage and Saffron
Catering (Hospitality Lounges): Blue Sea Catering
Show Calling & Stage Management: On Cue Productions
International Artists: Akon, Cirque du Soleil, David Blaine, Rihanna
International Artist Management, Event Management, Production & Venue Build, Technicals: DNA Entertainment Networks
Live Entertainment: Arijit Singh, B Praak, Diljit Dosanjh, Falguni Pathak, Harrdy Sandhu, Harshdeep Kaur, Javed Ali, Lucky Ali, Mohit Chauhan, Monali Thakur, Neeti Mohan, Parthiv Gohil, Pritam, Shreya Ghoshal, Shaan, Sukhbir, Sukhwinder Singh, Shibani Dandekar, Udit Narayan
Entertainment (Indian) Curation: Parthiv Gohil, Soul Sutra
DJs: DJ Ganesh, DJ AJ, DJ Amit, DJ Bhauk, DJ Chetas
Invites & Stationery: Itchha Talreja Designs
Spa Setups: Power Spa
Photography & Film: Dharma Productions, Epic Stories, Stories by Joseph Radhik
