Marriage Wows

When a princess gets married,the whole town stops to watch.

Written by Deepika Nath
December 10, 2010 02:40 AM IST

3 min read

The wedding of Abhijeet Singh and Rajkumari Viveka in Jodhpur was a lavish affair

When a princess gets married,the whole town stops to watch. This Wednesday,Jodhpur saw the royal wedding of Rajkumari Viveka of Idar with Abhijeet Singh,son of NK Singh,MP,Rajya Sabha,and Rajkumar Premkumari at Umaid Bhawan. The three day lavish affair kicked off with a recital of wedding ragas by Pandit Jasraj to an audience of over 200 people at the Taj Hari Mahal on Tuesday. The groom,sporting a pearl-white Raghavendra Rathore sherwani and an almost six carat diamond engagement ring,was busy ushering guests and planning an Austrian honeymoon. My friends really enjoyed the music, he said after the recital. The bride on the other hand,seemed to be in a philosophical frame of mind. It doesnt matter how or where a princess gets married. The man is more important, she smiled.

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Day two was a traditional affair. The morning of the wedding began with an exchange of gifts between families and several poojas. Narabla Devi,86,and four generations of her family,known for singing traditional Rajasthani prayers at weddings,were roped in to sing folk prayers. The most importance thing for us, said NK Singh,is to look after the convenience of our guests, as he rushed off to attend to his invitees. A sea of jeweled bandni turbans followed Abhijeet Singh in an antique beige Buick towards Umaid Bhawan,where the main ceremony was to take place. He entered the venue on a horse,with an entourage of close to 200 guests,traditional Rajasthani folk singers and a wedding band.

The wedding was a quick traditional ceremony,following which the guests were ushered to the sprawling backyard lawns,where the reception and dinner were hosted. Executive chef Gitendra Bhatnagar of Umaid Bhawan and his hand-picked team of 40 chefs had been planning the feast for over a month. There were almost 85 main courses in the five sections of the buffet Mughlai,Marwari,South Indian,continental and Rajasthani. I had to keep into account the very different tastes of the non vegetarian Rajasthanis,the Marwari vegetarians,the foreign guests,and also the preferences of the bride and the groom, he says. The couple had a private reception on Thursday night,before leaving for Europe.

Spotted at the wedding were politicians,diplomats,socialites and film-stars,in addition to members of royal families. The list included Gaj Singh and Arvind Singh of Mewar,Shabana Azmi,Javed Akhtar,Praful Patel,Jyotiraditya Scindia,Vijay Mallya,Mukesh and Nita Ambani,Rajeev Shukla,Montek Singh Aluwalia,Digvijay Singh among others.