Here’s why Indian nuptials are so big and glam

The son of Asia’s richest man is set to wed his fiancée this weekend, and the lavish events both preceding and during the wedding have transfixed the world.

Mukesh Ambani is the billionaire chairman of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, and his youngest son Anant Ambani is marrying Radhika Merchant, the daughter of Viren Merchant, owner of Encore Healthcare.

They’ve enchanted onlookers with their extravagant spending on pre-wedding festivities. This includes a three day event held in the Ambani’s hometown of Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat, in March, which had 1,200 guests in attendance. This includes the elites like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan.

Guests were treated to 2,000 dishes, a performance by singer Rihanna, and a visit to the family’s animal sanctuary, according to the BBC.

The couple has since embarked on a luxury cruise with their guests across the Mediterranean, and recently held another pre-wedding bash in Mumbai which saw a performance from singer Justin Bieber.

Mukesh Ambani has a fortune of $120 billion and is estimated to have spent millions on the wedding overall. The billionaire family have spotlighted the glitz and glamour of Indian weddings on the world stage, and piqued people’s curiosity about why weddings are such a big affair in Indian culture.

“Indian heritage and culture is based on the values of family and bringing everyone together,” Priya Suglani, the founder of London-based events and wedding planning company Pristine Events, told CNBC Make It.

“It’s a very family orientated culture, which is inclusive of everyone, and that’s why they [weddings] are genuinely quite big.”

Additionally, Indian weddings appear to be really spectacular because Indians tend to have big families, various religious and cultural events, and colorful attire and jewelry, according to Karishma Manwani, a London-based luxury wedding planner for Indian weddings.

“The combination of those things make these weddings look so glamorous… you could have an empty room and just let all the guests walk in and there’s going to be so much color. Everyone’s going to walk in with their saris, the shimmer and the glitter, the jewelry which is going to liven up the space,” Manwani told CNBC Make It in an interview.

“Even the smallest wedding is going to look very glamorous and very colorful,” she added.

Manwani plans weddings for wealthy clientele who typically spend anywhere from £200,000 ($258,000) to upward of £1 million while Suglani said her clients…