Ambani-Merchant wedding: A bespoke fairy tale

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We thought the Ambani-Merchant wedding would be over with the pheras, but we were wrong! The wedding was promptly followed by Shubh Ashirwad and a reception, the grand finale. As we, the uninvited lot, were forced to witness the Big Fat Ambani Wedding through Insta-feeds of every public figure we followed across the globe, we absorbed each bit of information — fashion, jewellery and make-up that the bride and the groom sported!

Here comes the bride

Radhika Merchant’s hand-picked outfits for her extended-wedding were all head-turners. Talking of D-day, Radhika exuded elegance in an Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla for the pheras with Anant Ambani. Her ensemble is Abu-Sandeep’s interpretation of Gujarati tradition of brides wearing red and white. In Gujarati language it’s called Panetar.

Radhika’s heirloom jewellery was the talking point too. She wore a choker, polki earrings, mang tika, and haath phool that were previously worn by her sister Anjali Merchant for her wedding in 2020.

Without taking away the attention from the antique pieces, she redefined jewellery fashion by choosing a central necklace of diamonds and emerald designed by Nisha Mehta, which seamlessly blended to result in a stunning over-all look.

For Abu-Sandeep the complete wedding ceremony look of Radhika was ‘a fairytale come to life’. They wrote on Instagram, “The ivory zardozi cut-work ensemble consists of a trailing ghagra layered with a second detachable trail, a five-meter head veil and a tissue shoulder dupatta…The outfit is complete with a fully embroidered red shoulder dupatta that uplifts the silhouette with its maximal drama.”

Radhika didn’t forget to pay homage to another celebrity designer Manish Malhotra on her wedding day. For her Vidaai, she chose MM’s custom-made lehenga in sindoori red colour.

Radhika’s Shubh Ashirwad look made quite a statement. She wore an artistic lehenga and fresh lotuses in her hair. Producer and stylist Rhea Kapoor’s brain-child, the look combined art and fashion which Rhea believes go hand-in-hand. Brought to life by couturists Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla, it was inspired the hand-paintings of Delhi-based artist and sculptor Jayasri Burman.

Taking to Instagram, Rhea wrote, “To bring Jayasri’s paintings to life, the lehenga’s 12 panels are hand-painted on a special Italian canvas. Featuring Jayasri’s quintessential mythical aesthetic, the garment celebrates Anant’s union with Radhika through deeply meaningful imagery… the craftsmanship features meticulous hand embroidery of real gold zardozi. A glittering sea of sequins shines over the most intricate spaces of Jayasri’s art. It is paired with a blouse hand embroidered entirely in resham by master craftsmen at Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla.”

Rhea didn’t forget to add artist Jaysri’s comments in the description. “Abu, Sandeep are artists. The only difference is that their medium is couture while mine is canvas. Both Rhea and Abu Sandeep gave me total creative freedom and understood my essence as an artist. I found my brush dancing all over the canvas. My only hope now is that it inspires a smile on Radhika’s face and maybe someday, we’ll even see it hanging on her wall,” wrote Jayasri.

Groom in pure gold

Abu Jani-Sandeep Khosla also styled the glorious groom for the wedding day. For the baraat, Anant opted for a rust orange sherwani with a red border. It is completely hand embroidered in an intricate trellis pattern that displays small birds within its structure. For the lagan ceremony, Abu-Sandeep styled Anant in an entirely gold sherwani in pure kanjivaram woven with shades of real silver and silver dipped in gold.

Whereas for the jaimala ceremony, Anant wore a Sabyasachi. He accessorised it with a regal necklace and a diamond brooch featuring a panther crouched on an emerald weighing a massive 720 carats.

Anant’s choice of outfits reflected his love for animals. One of those stand-out ensembles was Rahul Mishra’s pink kurta with a printed jacket with flora and fauna motifs.

Dewy & dreamy

For the D-day, Radhika bridal make-up was in sync with her ensemble. Keeping it rosy and fresh, she used minimal contouring and blush with hint of mascara on the lashes. She completed the look with winged eyeliner, tiny red bindi and red lipstick. For the hairdo, she did a low bun.

For Vidaai, she added fresh white flower in the bun. While maintaining minimal-make-up, Radhika added kajal to give away kohl eyed look and changed into brown shade for lips during Vidaai ceremony. Her Shubh Ashirwad hair-do also sported fresh lotuses.

Watch out

Anant is known for his love for watches and to mark the celebration, he gifted groomsmen, including Ranveer Singh, Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan 18K Gold Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar ‘Premiere’ edition watch.

This customised luxury watch’s estimated worth is between Rs 1.5 to 3 crore. There are only 25 pieces of the same in the world. Ranveer Singh even posted a close-up picture of the rose gold watch on his Instagram. According to an Instagram handle @theindianwatchconnoisseur, the luxury watch is 9.5 mm thick and features a 41 mm 18K pink gold case and a sapphire crystal back. The dial is pink gold and has a Grande Tapisserie pattern.

Regal presence

Among the guests, Deepika Padukone’s regal entrance in a red Torani Anarkali created some timeless memories. As her husband Ranveer Singh commented, ‘Mother is mothering’, it’s hard to miss her pregnancy glow and pure elegance which left quite an impression at the wedding where everybody brought in the their best fashion game. Apart from Deepika’s attire, her statement neckpiece, antique bazuband, initiated a conversation. Steeped in history, her bazuband is connected to Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s family.