PRE-WEDDING FUNCTIONS

Ganesh Puja, June 18
On the opening day of festivities, which are thought to be deeply foreign to Paris in sheer scale, a Ganesh puja ended with dinner for 180 people at the world's second best hotel, the Georges Cinq.

Le Cinq at George V Hotel - venue for dinner	Le Cabaret Club - venue for Youngsters Night

Youngsters' Night, June 18
DJ Aqeel and Vikrant Pawa belted out hip-shaking hits as the jet-setting crowd sipped top of the line Kristal champagne at Cabaret, an upper crust nightclub opposite the Louvre, Paris, to celebrate the Youngsters Night, part of the Amit Bhatia-Vanisha Mittal wedding gala.

Amit looked dapper in a multicoloured Moschino jacket while steel magnate Laxmi Mittal’s daughter Vanisha made heads turn in a black dress at the do that went on till 4 am. The well-heeled set of Delhi, Mumbai and London attended the party that began with a dinner where Italian and French cuisine was served.

Sangeet, June 19
The Sangeet was at the romantically candle-lit Jardin-des-Tuileries on the banks of Seine. In an hour-long Bollywood script written by Javed Akhtar and with music by Shankar Mahadevan, the Mittal clan enacted the love story of Vanisha and banker Amit. How they met, their little misunderstandings and how the problems were resolved as the couple realised they loved each other. Mittal and his wife, Usha, played themselves in the drama, for which they rehearsed for over 3 weeks. The roles of Amit and Vanisha were taken by Mittal's son and daughter-in-law, Aditya and Megha.

The bride and the groom were dressed in outfits designed by Varma. Vanisha looked stunning in a turquoise tassel lehenga with an off-shoulder blouse while Amit settled for a blue coloured shervani with crystal embroidery as embellishment.

Engagement, June 20
The engagement was held in the Palace of Versailles. This was the first time the palace allowed a private function (it apparently took Lakshmi Mittal over a year to get the requisite permission) and it was a typical scene where the groom-to-be went down on his knees and slipped a ring on Vanisha's finger. 

Vanisha and Amit after exchange of rings	The Battle Gallery at Versailles all set for a lavish dinner after the exchange of rings ceremony.

The guests were entertained by a performance of Moulin Rouge kicking can-can girls, attended an operawhere they heard the music of three of Mittal’s favourite composers –Verdi, Leo Delibes and Jean-Baptiste Lully, and walked through the bedrooms of France's kings and queens of old and the Galerie des Batailles (Gallery of Battles) before sitting down to a formal banquet.

Mehendi, June 21
The Mehendi ceremony, for which the mehendi and chudiwallis were flown in from Delhi and Mumbai, was at Hotel Bristol. Indian henna artist Ash Kumar – whose celebrity fans include Julia Roberts, Sophie Dahl and has been featured in Bollywood blockbusters like Devdas and Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Ghum – designed an exclusive henna pattern to match the embroidery on the bride’s outfit. An elaborate chaat fare by Munna Maharaj of Kolkata was a big hit.

Bollywood Night, June 21

Shah Rukh Khan jived to his hit number Maahi ve and pop kitten Kylie Minogue regaled the crème de la crème with a half-hour act at the Bollywood Night, as more than 1,000 guests sipped cocktails and looked down on Paris laid out below from the hilly Parc St Cloud. As the night wore on, the younger guests carried on dancing, continuing the disco theme of one of the world's most expensive wedding celebrations.

The hit pair of the season, Rani Mukerji and Saif Ali Khan gave a sneak preview of how married life would be: as Amit and Vanisha they performed on the songs from their hit, Hum Tum. The script revolved around how Amit and Vanisha meet, fall in love and how life after marriage is, all brought out through singing and dancing in Bollywood style. Guests savoured a lavish spread of various cuisine from some of the best restaurants in the world.

	Kylie Minogue performs at the Bollywood Night
Vanisha and Amit wearing Suneet Verma Creations