How a Billionaire’s Wedding Comes to Life, According to Ambani Event Designer Preston Bailey

By now, you’ve heard plenty about the Ambani wedding: After all, Anant Ambani, the son of India’s wealthiest man (and the heir to his empire) and Radhika Merchant have been celebrating their just-passed nuptials for seven months. After a slew of pre-wedding events, including a three-day hastakshar complete with a Rihanna concert in March, a celebrity-packed cruise with stops in France and Italy in May, and a sangeet starring Justin Bieber at the beginning of July, the couple’s over-the-top, lavish celebration came to a crescendo over July 12, 13, and 14, 2024—dates that were chosen with the couple’s astrological charts in mind, the bride told Vogue. Though much fanfare was made about the guest list—which included Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas, John Cena, Law Roach, Nicky Hilton and James Rothschild, and Disha Patani—the event’s larger-than-life and deeply personal décor deserves as big a spotlight. 

The Ambani family has Preston Bailey, an event designer, producer, director, and installation extraordinaire, to thank for one of the most meaningful elements of the weekend: Bailey brought a floral menagerie of animals, designed to honor the couple’s passion for animals and their animal rescue center, Vantara, to life for the pair’s sangeet, held on July 12. If you ask Bailey, though, he’d say the honor was all his. “The Ambanis are one of the most gracious families I have ever worked with,” he told Brides exclusively. His work is now part of what is being hailed as the wedding of the century—but how, exactly, does the décor for a celebration for 2,000-plus people come to life? We tapped Bailey for the inside scoop, logistics and all.

Believe it or not, the concept for Bailey’s floral menagerie began in April 2024, after the bulk of the couple’s pre-wedding events concluded. He was contacted by “event genius” Nita Ambani, the mother of the groom. “She’s the director, the producer—she was able to translate every detail the couple wanted,” Bailey, who was officially brought onto the vendor team last year, explained. “She was very involved in every single detail. I’m blown away by her.” His plans required three pre-wedding trips to Mumbai; the fourth voyage was for the event itself (it kept him on-site to prepare and oversee production for three weeks). 

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He received the final approval for his installation about a month before the couple’s wedding—and then it was go time. As soon as he and a few of the designers on his team, which is based in New York, arrived in India, production began; they partnered with a local company to ensure that 50 people were on-site at all times. Bailey, who began his day around 7:30 am, would squeeze in a workout before he and his team started “working, working, working, working.” Mrs. Ambani and Merchant would often stop by after midnight to check on progress (Bailey snuck in afternoon naps where he could) and offer feedback on the 60 floral animal sculptures that were underway. “For instance, the tiger, which I think is such a wonderful story. Mrs. Ambani was like, ‘Oh my God, you know, we have to make a tiger that is smiling! He cannot look aggressive, he has to look like he is smiling!” Bailey laughs, noting that the animals were sculpted, painted, and then floralized. “They were very involved. Then I’d go home, sleep for two or three hours, and do it all over again.” (Bailey notes that credit is due to producer Greg Van GlaanenWeygel, who often worked 48 hours straight, and their local partners for so much of his team’s success).

The result of all that hard work? Pure magic. “We created a tiger, parrots, a family of giraffes, a herd of deer walking through a field of flowers, a giant panther perched up in a tree, horses in full costume, and a pair of elephants in full ceremonial style,” he explains. “Some parts of the animals were also able to move. There was actually a line in front of our elephants as people waited to have their photos taken in front of it.” (It’s true—all the celebrities wanted a photo in front of his creations). Bailey estimates that over 100,000 flowers were incorporated into these designs; he notes that “it was very important to the team that we only use flowers sourced from India.”

In the end, Bailey was also invited to partake in the event he so painstakingly crafted; the Ambani family extended an invitation to him, his husband, and his team (who received passes to attend in the weekend’s events). Bailey, who donned traditional attire by Manish Malhotra (the designer responsible for the majority of the Mrs. Ambani and the bride’s garments over the course of the weekend), was particularly touched by Saturday’s religious proceedings and music—and was blown away by the Sunday celebration for over 10,000 guests, which was “executed flawlessly.” His consensus from the vendor and guest perspective? “I have been in business for over 40 years and I have never seen anything as intricate as this wedding,” he says. “I was the only American chosen to be on the team and it’s been amazing to work with the best Indian architects, fashion designers, and artists in a celebration of Indian culture and heritage that is modern, elegant, and immersive. I’m sure it will set trends that will be seen all over the world.”

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