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Summary The groom wore a garland made of bank notes and received a helicopter as a gift, there were 18,000 guests -- or perhaps it was 30,000 -- and 1,000 workers took 40 days to prepare the venue.
The exact details have been fiercely disputed, but Thursdays newspapers in New Delhi were all in agreement that this had been one very big, very fat Indian wedding.Lalit Tanwar married his bride Yogita Jaunapuria at a family farmhouse near the city in a ceremony celebrated with 100 dishes, 12 giant TV screens to broadcast proceedings, and even a gift of $5,500 for the grooms barber.The Times of India calculated the cost of Tuesday nights extravaganza uniting two influential political families at one billion rupees ($22 million), while the Mail Today went for the less conservative figure of $55 million.I dont understand why there is so much hoopla about this marriage, the grooms father, Kanwar Singh Tanwar, told the Times. All estimates of this marriage in the media are speculation. In the Indian Express, he was quoted as saying: True, a Bell 429 helicopter was given but it was a simple wedding.Kanwar Tanwar is a hugely wealthy city politician from the ruling Congress party, while the brides father is a former politician in the capital -- making the arranged marriage a perfect power deal.Celebrations are set to continue with another reception on Thursday and a final gathering on Sunday at a five-star hotel attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai.
