Original Title原标题 As the Ambani wedding gets underway — here’s why Indian nuptials are so big and glamorous
The son of Asia’s richest man is set to wed his fiancée this weekend, and the lavish events both preceding and during the wedding have transfixed the world.亚洲最富有的人的儿子即将在这个周末与他的未婚妻举行婚礼。这个婚礼前后的豪华活动已经吸引了全世界的目光。
Mukesh Ambani is the billionaire chairman of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, and his youngest son Anant Ambani is marrying Radhika Merchant, the daughter of Viren Merchant, owner of Encore Healthcare.这对结婚的新人是安南特·安巴尼将与拉迪卡·默钦特。安南特·安巴尼是印度综合企业信实工业的主席、亿万富翁穆克什·安巴尼的年轻的儿子，而拉迪卡·默钦特是恩科尔医疗公司所有者维伦·默钦特的女儿。![]()
They’ve enchanted onlookers with their extravagant spending on pre-wedding festivities. This includes a three-day event held in the Ambani’s home town of Jamnagar in the western Indian state of Gujarat, in March, which had 1,200 guests in attendance. This includes the elites like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and Bollywood stars like Shah Rukh Khan.他们在婚礼前的庆祝活动支出庞大，吸引了围观者的目光。这庆祝活动包括三月份在安巴尼的家乡、印度西部古吉拉特邦贾姆纳加尔举行的为期三天的活动，当时有1200名宾客出席。宾客包括了Meta的马克·扎克伯格和宝莱坞明星沙鲁克·汗等精英人士。
Guests were treated to 2,000 dishes, a performance by singer Rihanna, and a visit to the family’s animal sanctuary, according to the BBC.据BBC报道，宾客们享受了2000道菜肴，观看了歌手蕾哈娜的表演，还参观了家族的动物保护区。
The couple has since embarked on a luxury cruise with their guests across the Mediterranean, and recently held another pre-wedding bash in Mumbai which saw a performance from singer Justin Bieber.这对新人随后与他们的宾客们一起乘坐豪华游轮穿越地中海，而最近在孟买举行了另一场婚礼前的庆祝活动，则请歌手贾斯汀·比伯来表演。
Mukesh Ambani has a fortune of $120 billion and is estimated to have spent millions on the wedding overall. The billionaire family have spotlighted the glitz and glamour of Indian weddings on the world stage, and piqued people’s curiosity about why weddings are such a big affair in Indian culture.穆克什·安巴尼是一位拥有1200亿美元的富豪，预计他在整个婚礼上花费了数百万美元。这个亿万富翁家庭已经将印度婚礼的奢华和魅力放在了世界舞台的聚光灯下，并引起了人们对为什么印度文化如此重视婚礼的好奇心。
“Indian heritage and culture is based on the values of family and bringing everyone together,” Priya Suglani, the founder of London-based events and wedding planning company Pristine Events, told CNBC Make It.“印度的传统和文化基于家庭价值观和全体家庭成员的团聚。”总部在伦敦的活动和婚礼策划公司Pristine Events的创始人普里亚·苏格拉尼告诉CNBC Make It。
“It’s a very family-orientated culture, which is inclusive of everyone, and that’s why they [weddings] are genuinely quite big.”“这是一个非常以家庭为中心的文化，包括了家庭里的每一个人，这就是为什么他们的婚礼如此盛大的原因。”Additionally, Indian weddings appear to be really spectacular because Indians tend to have big families, various religious and cultural events, and colorful attire and jewelry, according to Karishma Manwani, a London-based luxury wedding planner for Indian weddings.此外，根据总部在伦敦、为印度豪华婚礼进行策划的策划师卡瑞什玛·曼瓦尼的说法：印度婚礼看起来确实非常壮观，因为印度人通常有庞大的家庭、各种宗教和文化活动，以及丰富多彩的服饰和珠宝。
“The combination of those things make these weddings look so glamorous… you could have an empty room and just let all the guests walk in and there’s going to be so much color. Everyone’s going to walk in with their saris, the shimmer and the glitter, the jewelry which is going to liven up the space,” Manwani told CNBC Make It in an interview.“这些因素的结合使得这些婚礼看起来如此华丽……你腾出一个大房间，让所有宾客走进来，那里是如此五光十色、光彩夺目。每个人都会穿着他们的印度式的服装，珠宝的闪烁和闪耀让整个空间充满活力。”曼瓦尼在接受CNBC Make It采访时说。
“Even the smallest wedding is going to look very glamorous and very colorful,” she added.“即使是最小的婚礼也会看起来非常华丽和非常多彩。”她补充道。
Manwani plans weddings for wealthy clientele who typically spend anywhere from £200,000 ($258,000) to upward of £1 million while Suglani said her clients are spending anywhere between £40,000 to £130,000.曼瓦尼为富裕客户策划婚礼，这些客户的花费通常在20万英镑（258,000美元）到100万英镑之间。苏格拉尼说，她的客户的花费在4万英镑到13万英镑之间。
Manwani and Suglani explained the culture and tradition underpinning big Indian weddings.曼瓦尼和苏格拉尼从文化和传统上解释了印度人热衷盛大婚礼的缘由。
‘It’s the start of the couple’s new life’In Indian culture, weddings and funerals are two of the biggest events that nobody will ever decline attending, according to Manwani.根据曼瓦尼的说法，在印度文化中，婚礼和葬礼是两个任何人都不会拒绝参加的最重要的事件。
“It’s the start of the couple’s new life,” Manwani explained.
“Especially from the bride’s point of view. In the Hindu culture, they say that you have two lives. One when you’re born, and you have two families with the one that you’re born into, and then the one that you marry into, and the day of your wedding, you are born again. That’s a completely new life. Your parents are giving you away. it’s their way of showing that love.”“特别是从新娘的角度来看。在印度教文化中，他们说你有两次生命。一次是在你出生时，这是两个家庭结合在一起，然后让你出生了，然后是你结婚的那一天，你又一次出生。那是一个完全新的生活。你的父母正在把你交给你的爱人。这是他们表达爱的方式。”Manwani explained that parents save for their children’s weddings for many years, some from birth, and it’s the one occasion they splash out on.曼瓦尼解释说，父母为子女的婚礼储蓄了很多年，有些人儿女出生时就开始储蓄了，而婚礼是他们把多年积蓄挥霍出去的时候。
“Indians generally don’t splash out on the day-to-day,” she said. “They’re very simple people. They’ll have a holiday once a year, but most of the time, they’ll go back to their family homes.“印度人通常不会在日常生活中挥霍。”她说：“他们是非常朴素的人。他们一年只度假一次，而且大多数假期，他们都是回到他们的家乡。”
“The wedding is the only time, especially the daughter’s wedding, and the son’s wedding, that they can thank people or they can show their status.”“婚礼是他们唯一挥霍的时候，特别在女儿的婚礼和儿子的婚礼上。婚礼是他们向人们表示感谢，或者显示他们的地位的时候。”
In India, there’s a saying that “guest is god” and it’s a code of conduct in Hindu society, Manwani noted.曼瓦尼指出，印度有一句俗语说“客人是神”，这是印度社会的行为准则。“Indian couples and parents treat every guest as if they were a god,” she said. “The only request I get from my clients is ‘my guests are coming all this way. I want them to have the best time. I want them looked after. I don’t want them to be thinking about anything.’”“印度夫妇和父母像对待神一样对待每一位客人。”她说：“我的客户唯一的要求就是‘我的客人远道而来。我希望他们度过愉快的时光。我希望他们得到照顾。我希望为他们办好所有事情。’”This means providing a variety of foods to satisfy all their guests’ requirements whether they’re vegetarian or vegan; having welcome hampers in hotel rooms, and other conveniences like safety pins, sari drapes, or hair and makeup services.这意味着举办婚礼的家庭必须提供各种食物以满足所有宾客的要求，无论宾客是不是素食主义者或纯素食主义者；在酒店房间里提供欢迎礼品篮，以及其他方便的东西，如安全别针、印度式披肩或发型和化妆服务。
The huge focus on hospitality is also rooted in Indians building communities wherever they go, especially if they live abroad.对待客人的极大关注的传统也根植于任何地方的印度人社区，特别是他们生活在国外。
“They build this community around them, the neighbors, shop neighbors, people who work in your stores. If you have a garage, people who are working there, they treat them like family,” she said.“他们在他们的周围建立这样的社区，邻居、商店的邻居、在你的商店工作的人。如果你的车库里也有人在那里工作，他们也把他们当作家庭成员一样对待。”她说。
“The wedding is the one time in your life that you would give back to everyone because you’ve been invited to so many weddings, you’ve been invited to so many people’s homes, you’ve been looked after.”“婚礼是你一生中唯一可以给每个人回报的时候，因为你被邀请参加了这么多婚礼，被这么多人邀请到他们的家里，你已经得到过他们的照顾了。”
There’s a sense of pride that comes with hosting a wedding in Indian culture, according to Suglani. Although this doesn’t apply to all Indians, some families want to show what they’ve put together and the family’s success.根据苏格拉尼的说法，在印度文化中，主办婚礼有一种自豪感。尽管这并不适用于所有印度人，但有些家庭想要展示他们聚集起来的实力和家庭的成功。
“There are definitely some families that do these big events to show their status and their wealth and their place,” Suglani said.“肯定有一些家庭为了要显示他们的等级、财富和地位而举办这些大型活动。”苏格拉尼说。
“This is especially if it’s the first wedding in their family or the first grandchild, like people do want to go all out because it is a special, momentous moment.”“特别是，如果这是他们家庭的第一次婚礼或第一个孙子的诞生，这些人就确实希望全力以赴去举办盛大活动，因为这是一个特殊且重大的时刻。”Manwani added that Indians don’t generally go all out for other life events like birthday parties or anniversaries, so weddings are the one time they can show off. “It is a status symbol,” Manwani said. “It’s a way of showing the status. It’s to show that this is who we are, this is our family, this is what we do.”曼瓦尼补充说，印度人通常不会为其他生活事件（如生日派对或周年纪念）大操大办，所以婚礼是他们可以炫耀的时候。“这是一种地位象征。”曼瓦尼说：“这是一种显示地位的方式。通过盛大豪华的婚礼向他人表明，我们是谁，这是我们的家庭，这是我们的行为方式。”
