Multi-day celebrations are not uncommon when it comes to Indian weddings. But when you are the last unmarried child of Mukesh Ambani, Asia’s richest man with a reported fortune of $US117 billion ($178 billion), and set to wed the daughter of Viren and Shaila Merchant, themselves multibillionaire founders of pharmaceutical firm Encore Healthcare, things are considerably more extravagant. Cue a multi-day party with A-list celebs and rock superstar entertainers. A contender, in other words, for the biggest wedding do the world has ever seen.

All this and Anant Ambani, 28, and his future wife Radhika Merchant, 29, are not actually celebrating their wedding until July 12. Nonetheless, their pre-wedding celebration in the city of Jamnagar, Gujarat, on India’s western coast, featured a pantheon of the world’s richest and most influential figures. The Zuckerbergs. Bill Gates and his girlfriend Paula Hurd. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner along with their 12-year-old daughter Arabella. Politicians. Bollywood royalty. Actual royalty (Bhutan’s King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema). Cricket legends. No big deal.

The three-day celebration for 1200 guests is estimated to have cost around $US100 million. It included more than 500 dishes prepared by 100 chefs, an animal parade and performances from Rihanna (who was paid a reported $10.6 million for her 19-song set, her first “real” performance in eight years, which, by some accounts, was lacklustre). The Ambanis have form on this front: when Anant’s sister Isha got engaged in 2018, Beyonce performed at the party, and Coldplay performed when brother Akash tied the knot in 2019.

Jamnagar is “not a fancy destination”, says one colleague who knows the city. Needless to say, it lacked the required number of suitably opulent hotel rooms to accommodate a lengthy and starry guest list, so luxury glamping – a sort of pop-up five-star hotel – was established as accommodation.

The scale of the event was such that the local airport, which usually receives around 10 flights a day, saw 130 fly in for the occasion; the air fleet ferried in not just guests, but performers, makeup artists, hair stylists, chefs – you name it.

This was how the Ambanis ensured that their guests looked the part: “The invitation says guests will start each day with a new dress code, mood boards and an army of hair stylists, makeup artists and Indian wear designers at their hotel to help them prepare.” The first night was “An Evening in Everland”; for a visit to the groom’s 3000-acre animal sanctuary, guests were invited to follow a “Walk on the Wild Side” theme; for the “Mela Rouge” night, some French flair was required.

Those invited were required to go all-out – there was no chance of upstaging the host family given the mother of the groom was sporting an emerald the size of a saucer.

Here’s how the ultra-wealthy guests stacked up against each other during the extravagant festivities last weekend: