In general, we know that Indians love their big, fat weddings. It is embedded into our culture as marriage signifies one of the most important moments in a person’s life and the joining of two families. For the average Indian family, weddings include multiple events spanning across a week to even months. Now imagine the wedding of the youngest son of the richest man in India — the Ambanis. For the past few weeks, my TikTok has been blasted with clips of the wedding and celebrity outfits. With the richest stars of Bollywood in attendance and celebrities such as Karlie Kloss, Mark Zuckerburg, and Bill Gates all in attendance, the media coverage surrounding the event was insane. Not to mention, Rihanna, who hasn’t gone on tour or released music in years, was in attendance and performed at the wedding.
The Ambani wedding created a stir globally with many people interested in the grand nature of the celebrations from the jewelry, outfits, food, performances, etc. Guests were hosted in lavish hotels and had access to professional makeup artists and hair stylists. Drapists were also available to help women tie their sarees. With the whole world paying attention to the events, the Ambani’s knew that their guests would want to look their best. Keep in mind that this was all PRE-wedding celebrations, so just imagine the actual wedding.
The pre-wedding celebrations first began with community service through hosting a food drive. To many this was just to generate positive PR before a display of the family’s lavish wealth. One of the greatest challenges in India is the income inequality and the Ambani wedding further provided proof of this. The Ambanis were able to spend this much money on the wedding as disposable income and to prove their status in Indian society. Yes, they had enough wealth to spend this much money on pre-wedding celebrations, but should they have? The societal pressure surrounding Indian weddings can be toxic as it forces people to feel their status depends on how much money they spend on the wedding. Moreover, it pushes people to spend more than they are comfortable with just to prove themselves to others. Yes, Indians like to celebrate weddings lavishly because they want to treat their families and friends while also blessing the newlyweds, but there is also a toxic side that often goes unnoticed. With celebrities often setting trends for society to follow, the Ambani wedding will continue to garner media attention. Let’s wait and see how the wedding on July 12th will go down in history.