The billionaire wedding in Udaipur genuinely felt like a soft launch for a new Indian festival. One that should’ve been listed right between Diwali and Holi. But honestly, this whole “wedding-as-a-festival” vibe started way earlier this year, thanks to the wedding of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant. Let’s be real, that wasn’t a wedding. It was Coachella with pheras. It had pre-weddings, pre-pre-weddings, international performances, a guest list that doubled as an IMDb page, and a scale so massive that even our festivals felt underdressed.
So when the recent Udaipur wedding happened, it felt like the sequel. The calmer, artsy cousin of the Ambani wedding, but still dripping in glamour, palace views, and decor that probably cost more than my entire degree. And just like that, the bar for “Big Fat Indian Weddings” shot straight through the stratosphere.
Let’s Admit It…The Glamour Is Fun.
Say what you want, but there’s something magical about weddings that look like a Sanjay Leela Bhansali production. The outfits, the performances, the drone shots, the mandap glowing like it’s manifesting good karma, it pulls you in. Even people who don’t care about weddings will scroll through the pictures just for the serotonin.
We may roll our eyes at the extravagance, but deep down, we’re all saving at least one screenshot. Nothing wrong with wanting a little sparkle in life.
My Cousin’s GRAND Wedding
Just two weeks ago, I went to my cousin sister’s wedding. It was nowhere near Udaipur-palace-luxury or Ambani-festival-level, but still pretty lavish in its own beautiful way. And guess what? The memories stuck. Everyone had fun. It felt grand to the people who were there. We even invited my previous school principal, who walked in genuinely starstruck by the decor and kept saying how “royal” everything looked.
That’s when it hit me. Grandness is relative. What feels normal to one family can feel extraordinary to another. And that’s the fun of weddings! Everyone experiences the same event differently, but the joy hits all of us the same way.
But Somewhere, the Pressure Sneaks In
Now here’s the thing. Once you’ve seen people getting married on literal palace terraces with firework finales, it becomes kind of impossible to settle for a basic banquet hall with a DJ who plays “Gallan Goodiyan” on loop. Suddenly, everyone feels the need to up their wedding game even when they’re on a totally normal, non-billionaire budget.
It’s not that anyone expects an Ambani-level spectacle, but the trend they create trickles down. People start feeling like their wedding has to be aesthetically pleasing, cinematic, and larger-than-life. While that’s fun, it also adds this sneaky layer of pressure. Because now weddings aren’t just weddings. They’re content.
To put things in perspective, reports estimated parts of the Ambani wedding events to cost anywhere between $600 million to $1 billion, which is absolutely wild. And while the Udaipur wedding was far from that scale, it still fed into the same mood: weddings must be beautiful. Weddings must be curated and picture-perfect.
The Good Side of the Glam
There’s also a positive side to all of this. Big weddings push creativity. Florists, photographers, planners, stylists, everyone suddenly has a new aesthetic to explore. Even small weddings borrow ideas: simpler versions of the decor, intimate lighting setups, personalised elements. A lot of people don’t want extravagance; they just want the feeling of magic. And these mega-weddings provide a giant mood board for everyone to pick from.
The Part That Actually Matters
The Udaipur wedding, and honestly, the wedding season in general, reminds us that weddings have become more than just rituals. They’re emotional, visual, familial, and social media events. There’s nothing wrong with a lavish celebration, but there’s also nothing wrong with wanting something small and sweet.
The Ambani wedding may have turned the “big fat Indian wedding” into something almost mythological, and Udaipur kept the sparkle going… but the truth is, weddings only matter for the people in them. It’s their love, their story, their budget, and their choice.
Final Thoughts
If there’s one thing these billionaire weddings teach us, it’s that weddings can be whatever you want. Extravagant, intimate, aesthetic, minimalistic, chaotic, and calm. There’s no rulebook. You can borrow the glam without borrowing the pressure.
And honestly, whether you get married in a palace or in your backyard, the only thing people will remember is how happy you looked. Not how many chandeliers were hanging above you.