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Manhattan’s Financial District came to a standstill Saturday as an Indian couple’s elaborate wedding parade brought Wall Street traffic to a halt, according to social media posts and city permit records.
The extraordinary baraat—a traditional pre-wedding procession—saw hundreds of guests in glittering traditional attire dancing through the historic streets to Bollywood music, creating a spectacle that drew comparisons to movie productions from startled onlookers.
The couple behind the elaborate celebration has been identified through public wedding announcements and LinkedIn profiles as Varun Navani, CEO of enterprise AI platform Rolai, and Amanda Soll, director of legal compliance, risk management and M&A at Mastercard.
According to his Crunchbase profile, Navani founded Boston-based Rolai in 2020 after earning a degree from Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. The Org, a professional networking platform, lists his educational background as including concentrations in Law and Computer Science. He previously worked at UP Education Network and eClinicalWorks before launching his AI company.
Rolai operates in artificial intelligence and professional development services, according to company records on Crunchbase.
The bride, Soll, serves in a senior legal role at the payment processing giant, according to her public LinkedIn profile referenced in the couple’s wedding announcements.
The couple filed 28 permits for their celebration, with estimated costs between $25,000 and $66,000 per location to shut down portions of the Financial District, according to Mayor’s Office classifications for street events.
The four-day celebration, detailed on the couple’s public page on wedding planning site The Knot, included multiple events across Manhattan venues:
- Friday: Breakfast and tea at the Conrad Hotel, followed by a sangeet celebration at The Glasshouse
- Saturday: Multiple meals before a 3:30 p.m. baraat, then reception at Cipriani Wall Street until 2 a.m.
- Sunday: Jewish wedding ceremony at Cipriani with after-party at Slate until 4 a.m.
- Monday: Farewell brunch at Conrad’s West Ballroom
The Navani-Soll celebration exemplifies a growing trend of increasingly lavish Indian American weddings, according to wedding industry analysts.
“The average cost of an Indian Wedding in America for about 300-325 guests is roughly $250,000 to $300,000,” according to a 2024 analysis by wedding planning site Sodjla.
Wedding Frontier, another industry publication, confirmed this range in a December 2024 breakdown, reporting that Indian weddings in major U.S. cities like Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and New Jersey typically cost between $230,000 to $300,000 for around 300 guests.
However, Alfaaz Photography noted in a February 2025 analysis that some Indian weddings in North America cost between $75,000 to $150,000, suggesting a wide range depending on scale and location.
The trend reflects broader patterns in Indian wedding spending, according to travel industry research firm Skift.
Wedding industry experts say cultural expectations create pressure for elaborate celebrations across economic levels.
“You have to invite everyone you know,” one industry source told wedding publications, noting that intimate Indian American weddings typically involve 200 guests while larger celebrations can include over 1,000 attendees.
Traditional Elements Meet Modern Spectacle
The baraat tradition, where the groom’s family and friends dance their way to the venue with dhol drums and elaborate fanfare, historically involved the groom arriving on horseback with family performing protective rituals.
Video posted to social media by DJ AJ (@djmumbai), who performed at the event, showed Navani in traditional ivory sherwani and pearl necklaces being lifted by his wedding party as hundreds danced in the streets.
“We shut down Wall Street for a 400-person Baraat,” the DJ wrote on social media. “Who would’ve ever thought?!”
Soll wore a deep ruby lehenga by renowned Indian designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee, according to social media posts from the event.
The celebration required extensive NYPD coordination and full block closures, according to Mayor’s Office classifications for the permits filed.
While some social media users celebrated the cultural display, others questioned the expense and disruption to city traffic.
The growth of such elaborate Indian American weddings has created an entire specialized industry, with magazines like South Asian Bride, Bibi, and Indian Weddings establishing operations across major American cities. Harper’s Bazaar launched a dedicated bridal magazine for the South Asian market in 2014.
Broader Questions About Wedding Culture
The Wall Street celebration raises questions about the sustainability of increasingly extravagant wedding traditions, according to cultural observers.
While successful professionals like Navani and Soll can afford such elaborate celebrations, the cultural pressure for grand weddings affects families across economic levels, potentially creating financial strain that can last for years.
The couple’s decision to blend Hindu and Jewish wedding traditions over four days also reflects the multicultural reality of modern American marriages, where multiple heritages are honored through expanded celebration formats.
From AI boardrooms to ancient wedding traditions, the Navani-Soll celebration represents both the Indian American community’s economic success and ongoing questions about the balance between cultural expression and financial responsibility in an era of social media-driven wedding expectations.
(Top photo: composite image made from Instagram and theknot.com photos).
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