Jul 13, 2024 - 07:07
By edition.cnn.com

The son of Asia’s richest man is getting married in one of India’s most anticipated — and lavish — weddings of the year

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Billionaire heir Anant Ambani is set to marry his longtime girlfriend Radhika Merchant later this month, in a lavish ceremony widely described as the country’s wedding of the year.

Extravagant pre-wedding celebrations have already sent Indian media into a frenzy and social media feeds are abuzz over what’s to come.

In March, the couple had a three-day pre-wedding party in the western city of Jamnagar, attended by around 1,200 high-profile guests, including Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates. An elaborate light show featuring 5,500 drones lit up the sky above a glass palace custom-built for the festivities where partygoers danced the night away to a performance by none other than Rihanna.

Then, over a weekend in late May, the couple held a four-day Mediterranean cruise for friends and family, which made multiple stops through Europe, and included a bevy of Bollywood A-listers, with performances by Katy Perry, the Backstreet Boys and opera star Andrea Bocelli.

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The Mumbai wedding is set to take place July 12 to 14 at the home of Anant’s parents Mukesh and Nita Ambani – a 27-story residence called Antilia – as well as the family-owned Jio World Convention Centre, a sprawling venue with a capacity for more than 16,000 people.

Details have been tightly guarded, but if the pre-wedding events are anything to go by, the upcoming nuptials are expected to be grand. Here’s what we know.