5 lavish Indian destination weddings to inspire your moodboard
Nothing quite like a big, fat Indian wedding
2018 isn’t over yet, but given the sheer volume of high-profile Indian weddings taking up real estate on our collective social calendars, you are absolutely forgiven for having weddings on your mind. Lovebirds Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh are currently hosting their nuptials at Lake Como in Italy, with Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas following suit two weeks later with a grand blowout in Jodhpur. And lest you forget, the Ambanis will be closing the year in style with a week-long extravaganza in Udaipur and Mumbai—with Beyoncé rumoured to be on the guest list.
Blame it on the irrepressible Indian sense of hospitality if you will, but a big, fat celebration is the only way we are wired to do things. If you’ve been scouting for inspiration for your moodboard, allow these no-expense-spared destination weddings to play muse.
Tuscany, Italy: Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma
Image: Stories by Joseph Radhik
The idyllic countryside of Tuscany served as the backdrop for this power couple’s hush-hush wedding last year. Eschewing the mainstream options, Virushka opted for an 800-year-old restored villa to capture the fairytale whimsy of their romance, with an all-Sabyasachi wedding wardrobe and trousseau complementing the colour-strewn landscape.
Barcelona, Spain: Adel Sajan and Sana Khan
Image: Viral Bhayani
Given the frequency with which art inspires real life and vice versa, it was only a matter of time before we had a Dil Dhadakne Do-inspired wedding. Adel Sajan, heir to the Danube group, tied the knot with model Sana Khan on a luxury cruise liner spanning the lush European locales of Spain and Cannes. Estimated at 30 million dollars, the wedding pulled in star power in the form of Malaika Arora, Shilpa Shetty Kundra on the guest list and a special performance by Badshah.
Versailles, France: Vanisha Mittal and Amit Bhatia
Image: Instagram.com
In a celebration rivalling the imagination of the most ardent Bollywood filmmaker, Vanisha Mittal’s nuptials in 2004 came with a star-studded cast: the magnificent Jardin de Tuileries threw a dazzling spotlight on the sangeet choreographed by Farah Khan, and on a dedicated play scripted by Javed Akhtar. The six-day blowout also featured performances by Kylie Minogue, Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, among others, and a bespoke wedding wardrobe crafted by ace designers, Tarun Tahiliani and Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla.
Barcelona, Spain: Shrishti Mittal and Gulraj Behl
Image: Getty
The throes of recession did little to dull the lustre of Laxmi Mittal’s niece, Shrishti Mittal’s lavish three-day wedding with Gulraj Behl in 2013. In keeping with the memo on the previous Mittal wedding less than a decade ago, the nuptials were hosted in the National Museum of Catalan Art in Barcelona, under the gracious eye of the mayor of the city. After the groom made a horseback entry, the wedding celebrations were kicked into high gear with a light and water display, paired with an extravagant 60-kilo wedding cake concocted by the Michelin-starred chef, Sergi Arola.
Vienna, Austria: Sonam Vaswani and Navin Fabiani
Image: Instagram.com/simonakrasteva
Founder of contemporary British label, Esse Vie London, and daughter of Stallion Group’s Sunil Vaswani, Sonam Vaswani’s dreamy wedding to Navin Fabiani kicked off at the Palais Ferstel, followed by a vibrant mehandi function at the Palais Liechtenstein park—with the wedding ceremony taking place at the Belvedere Palace. The outdoorsy affair was serenaded in with a Bruno Mars performance, a host of exquisite Manish Malhotra ensembles, pastel-perfect wedding portraits against the urbane landscape of Vienna and a string of A-lister socialites dotting the guest list, including Sophie Choudry, Natasha Poonawalla, Neetu and Rishi Kapoor, Kanika Kapoor, Poonam Dhillon and Siddharth Mallya.
