Celebrity Guest List for India's Biggest Wedding

Anant Ambani, the son of Asia's richest man, is marry his long-time girlfriend Radhika Merchant on Friday, ending the wedding festivities that began several months ago.

The wedding ceremony will be attended by around 1,200 people, including Bollywood's A-listers, Silicon Valley tycoons and even former world leaders.

Guests include Boris Johnson, Tony Blair, Hillary Clinton, Kim and Khloe Kardashian and Mike Tyson. Bloomberg reported.

Samsung Electronics boss Jay Lee, Saudi Aramcos' Amin Nasser, Lockheed Martins' Jim Taiclet and FIFA boss Gianni Infantino are also expected to attend, as is Gautam Adani, Asia's second richest man.

Anant Ambani, 29, is the youngest son of Mukesh Ambanithe chairman of Fortune 500 company Reliance Industries, whose net worth is estimated at $113 billion ($89.53 billion), according to Bloomberg's Billionaires Index.

Reliance has interests in oil refining and marketing, chemicals, organised retail, telecommunications and digital streaming services.

Mukesh Ambani has three children with his wife Nita, twins Isha and Akash and Anant. They all run different businesses in their father's company.

Radhika Merchant, 29, is the daughter of pharmaceutical tycoon Viren Merchant. She sits on the board of her father's company, Encore Healthcare.

The wedding festivities, which began about four months ago, culminate in a ceremony so lavish that it has taken the national and international media by storm.

It all started in March, at a three-day pre-wedding ceremony in Ambani’s hometown of Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Guests included Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Ivanka Trump, the king and queen of Bhutan, and several world leaders.

A special glass palace was built for the event, there was a light show with 5,500 drones and performances by Rihanna, Diljit Dosanjh and Akon.

At a second pre-wedding celebration in May, the Ambanis took some 800 guests on a four-day Mediterranean cruise from Italy to France and back, and hired American boy band Backstreet Boys, singer Katy Perry and opera star Andrea Bocelli for entertainment.

While the lavish festivities were closely followed by the media, criticism of the inconvenience caused by the parties followed the Ambanis at every step.

There was an uproar when the Indian government temporarily upgraded the Jamnagar airport to accommodate private jets for the Ambani family's guests and allowed the sensitive Indian Air Force facility to be used for the wedding party and run at state expense.

Residents, tourists and local businesses in Portofino and Genoa, Italy, are furious as towns were closed for the cruise holiday and people living near the bay were kept awake by loud music.

The end-of-wedding festivities in Mumbai have caused chaos in India's financial capital. Police have imposed traffic restrictions from July 12 to 15 around the wedding venue, located in the heart of Mumbai's financial district.

The venue for the ceremony, the Jio World Convention Centre owned by Ambanis Reliance, will be open only to cars coming to the venue. This has upset residents of a city known for its traffic jams, made worse by the heavy rains the city is experiencing.

Several offices in the Bandra Kurla complex, a shopping mall, have asked employees to work remotely until July 15, according to the financial newspaper. mint The complex houses India's largest stock exchange, the markets regulator and many international banks.

The final wedding celebration kicked off last weekend, with Justin Beiber performing for the couple's friends and family during the traditional sangeet ceremony.

Bieber performed his 2015 hit Love Yourself and his 2017 collaboration with DJ Khaled Im The One at the Nita Mukesh Ambani Cultural Centre in Mumbai. He was reportedly paid $10 million for the private concert.

Friday's wedding ceremony will be held according to traditional Hindu customs and the reception will take place over two days.

Rajan Mehra, CEO of airline Club One Air, said the Ambanis have leased three of his company's Falcon 2000 jets to ferry guests and expects more than 100 private planes to be used for the event. Reuters reported.

Guests come from all over and each plane will make multiple trips across the country, he said.

Manish Malhotra, one of India's top designers, was hired as the wedding designer. According to media reports, he worked with the groom's mother, Nita Ambani, to bring to life the family's vision for the wedding.

Every detail, from the décor and cuisine to the attire and ambiance; every event, from the vibrant sangeet to the ceremonial wedding day and grand reception, is designed to immerse guests in an atmosphere of joy, love and celebration, he said CNN.