Most Lavish Indian Weddings

Indian weddings are famous for their ostentatious ways and lavish spreads. While every wedding is special, a few stand out. Yes, there have been a couple of Indian weddings that have stood the test of time and have successfully emerged as the most expensive weddings of all times. Occasions presents India’s most luxurious weddings of all times.

The Sahara Wedding (INR552 crore appx.)

The year was 2004 when Sahara chief Subrata Roy’s sons Sushanto and Seemanto married their sweethearts Richa and Chandni on February 10 and February 14 respectively. 

The Sahara township in Lucknow, UP was transformed into nothing short of a spectacle. While the pre-wedding festivities took place at Swapna Kuti, the grand residence of the Roy’s, the sangeet was held at Hotel Clarks Awadh. The wedding, attended by over 11,000 guests from the world over, was held at the Sahara Auditorium.

Welcoming the guests were Amitabh Bachchan, Anil Ambani, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Kapil Dev and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan along with Roy while Raj Kumar Santoshi captured the entire wedding in his lenses. There were more than 110 cuisines to cater to the taste buds as also entertainment from around the world. 

Sushanto’s outfits were by Rohit Bal whereas Seemanto and the brides’ dresses were by Sabyasachi. But the highlight of the wedding was the community weddings of 101 underprivileged girls from different communities and the distribution of food to around one and half lakh beggars in the country. 

 The Mittal Wedding (INR350 crore appx.)

The grandest Indian wedding till date of London-based industrialist Lakshmi Mittal’s only daughter Vanisha with Amit Bhatia, a London-based banker took place on June 22, 2004 in France. With the wedding festivities taking place at the Palace of Versailles, Vaux Le Vicomte, Jardin-des-Tuileres, Georges Cinq, Hotel Cabaret and Hotel Bristol, it was one fairytale wedding.  

 
Each invitation was a 20-page hand-painted booklet interspersed with poems, description of the venues along with their tickets to France. The wedding trousseau was made by Tarun Tahiliani, Suneet Varma and Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla. Stars like Kylie Minogue, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Saif Ali Khan, Akshay Kumar performed at the wedding.

The wedding venue Vaux Le Vicomte was transformed into a vision with pillars, statues, Indian-style palaces complete with Bikaner Palace as the food corner which served a feast of Indian delicacies by renowned chefs from India.

  
The Tanwar Wedding (INR250 crore appx.)

Congress Minister Kanwar Singh Tanwar’s son, Lalit’s wedding to Yogita Jaunapuria took place in 2011 in Delhi. Lalit received a Bell 429 helicopter as a gift from his in-laws. A whopping 21 crore was spent only on the tikka ceremony for the groom’s family.

The guest list included about 15000 people each of whom reportedly received 11,000 rupees as shagun and those who attended the lagan function got a 30 gms silver biscuit, a safari suit and rupees 2100 cash each. This was a high profile political wedding.