After months of expensive events, the son of Asia's richest man gets married

Anant Ambani, the richest man in India, finally married pharmaceutical heiress Radhika Merchant on Friday in front of hundreds of guests, after seven months of lavish pre-wedding festivities.

The amazing guest list for Anant Ambani, the son of Resilience Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, and longtime lover Radhika Merchant includes celebrities from Bollywood, politicians, John Cena, Kim Kardashian, Mark Zuckerberg, and cricket legends, among many others.

Reliance Industries, the largest private sector corporation in India, was founded by the Ambani family, who spared no expense. Anant's father, Mukesh, who is valued at over $122 billion by Forbes, is currently in charge of the business, which his grandfather founded.

Before a red carpet-style arrival celebration, police in a sodden Mumbai barricaded roads around the Ambani-owned, 16,000-seat Jio World Convention Center. At an occasion that might establish future trends in Indian wedding design, guests looked the part, flowing past cameras in handmade sarees, lehengas, and kurtas.

Manish Malhotra, a well-known fashion designer in India, was the creative director of the occasion. Throughout the month-long wedding festivities, the renowned couturier created custom attire for several Ambani family members.

Following Hindu tradition, the wedding dates were chosen based on auspicious days from the bride and groom’s birth charts.

The exact amount of money that the Ambani family spent on the couple's wedding festivities is unknown. The entire amount is reportedly in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to industry estimates, with musicians reportedly taking home seven- or even eight-figure salaries.

Mukesh Ambani, 67, has gifted the couple an $80 million, 10-bedroom villa on Palm Jumeirah in Dubai, featuring a private beach.

Anant and Radhika, both 29, have reportedly been friends since childhood, with their friendship turning romantic during a drive with mutual friends in 2017.

They went public with their relationship in 2018 after graduating from Brown University and New York University, respectively.

In December 2023, Anant proposed at the Shrinathji Temple in Nathdwara, Rajasthan, and they celebrated their engagement with an extravagant party the following month.