Out With Alisa: Lavish Traditional Indian Wedding Celebration

Last weekend, 1000 of Sanjay Hinduja and Anu Mahtani’s family and friends flew to India to celebrate with them at their three day wedding celebration. All of the guests flew to Mumbai and Delhi where private jets were waiting for us to bring everyone to the festivities in Udaipur. Upon arrival to Udaipur we were picked up at the airport by private cars and then transferred to boats to be taken to the hotel. All of the guests were provided with rooms at five star hotels in Udaipur.

The main hotels were The Oberoi and Taj Lake Palace, a floating palace in which the movie Octopussy was filmed. On the night of our arrival we had a spectacular dinner at the Manek Chow Market inside of the historic palace in central Udaipur where Nicole Scherzinger from the band Pussycat Dolls performed. Bollywood performances were occurring every 15 minutes. The place looked like it was out of a magical fairytale, decorated to feel like we were in a mystical forest. Billions of flowers were flown in for the occasion. At the end of the event, Sanjay and Anu Hinduja were called up on stage to perform a dance. They were surrounded by fire and a spectacular light show. The DJ kept the guests dancing all night long.

The following day, all of the ladies went to the “mehndi” ceremony,where the bride was decorated with henna tattoos. All of the guests in attendance received henna tattoos as well while watching performers, drinking, and eating. Guests also got dressed up in traditional Indian garments, which were provided by the hosts, as well as makeup, hair, and jewelry. After that we went to the “sangeet” ceremony on the grounds of the palace, where Bollywood heart throb Arjun Kapoor performed with a troop of dancers and a vivid lights show.The bride and groom’s families went up on stage to perform traditional Indian dances as well. The space was decorated with thousands of gorgeous flowers and iridescent lighting.

On the third day, all of the men went to the Oberoi hotel at noon for turban making. The groom arrived in style by elephant, accompanied by Indian singers and dancers. At four p.m. we were taken by boat to the wedding ceremony. After the traditional ritual, the party continued on the same island with a performance from Jennifer Lopez.

Among the guests were were rulers of Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Nicaragua. The President of Iceland, King and Prince of Udaipur, as well as Lakshmi Mittal, Carol Asher, Lisa Tchangies, Rena Sindi, Kaz Alzarka, Andrea Dibelius, Ella Krasner and Fawaz Gruosi were in attendance as well. It was an absolutely magical event and we were all extremely saddened to go back home.