Julia Chafé Gives An Exclusive Look Inside the Ambani Wedding

Jewelry influencer Julia Chafé takes Only Natural Diamonds inside the grandiose Ambani wedding in India.

When I got the email in my inbox, I thought it was a joke. How could I, just a jewelry lover who makes fun videos on social media, be invited to the Ambani wedding? The single greatest jewelry event of a generation! I have to thank my friend, socialite and influencer Orry Awatramani for bringing me as his plus one, and my husband Bruno as his plus two. I couldn’t believe I had somehow manifested my dream wedding invitation. And then the planning began.

Once I was on my flight to Mumbai, reality truly set in. I was going to the Ambani wedding, where I would wear some of the most beautiful clothes I’ve only ever seen in photos, and be in the presence of some of the most gorgeous pieces of Indian jewelry in the world. For the three days of the wedding, I would be attending the main and final ceremonial part of a celebration that has been ongoing for months. I knew I had to look my best, and thanks to a few of my friends in the Indian fashion and jewelry world, I felt like I fit right in.

For the first night, I borrowed jewels from Manish Malhotra, who also dressed me for nights one and three of the wedding, and dressed my husband Bruno for all three nights. I was connected to Manish through Lorraine Schwartz—who ended up coming through for me in more ways than one, and it has to do with Kim Kardashian! One the first evening, I wore a stunning choker featuring plenty of natural diamonds and an emerald at the center. But I have to say, my favorite jewels from the event came the nights that followed.

On the second night, I wore a natural diamond choker and ring from Anmol Jewellers and a Maang Tikka with ear climbers from Sajjante, leant to me by Only Natural Diamonds. The natural diamond Maang Tikka from Sajjante was easily my favorite piece from the weekend. I’ve never worn a headpiece before, and it made me feel so special and beautiful. Personally, I think that we in the West should also adapt to wearing jewelry in more places because it was fabulous. It frames your face so beautifully and you have an excuse to wear more diamonds!

The Maang Tikka is not only gorgeous but has a very special place in Hindu culture. I learned it can represent the ability to control emotions, concentrate and harness nature, and represent the union of marriage. It’s often worn as a symbol of the androgynous deity Ardhanarishvara, who is said to reside in the chakra’s two petals and can represent the union of male and female on a spiritual, physical, and emotional level. How beautiful!

On the third night of festivities, I wore jewelry from Indian-based jewelry designer Renu Oberoi. The necklace was a showstopper, featuring big pear-shaped natural diamonds shaped into a flower around my neck. In a word: Sick. I loved every second of wearing it.

The fashion felt a bit more daunting to me as I didn’t quite know where to start when it came to sarees and Lehengas, but I knew I needed to bring my a-game to this a-list wedding. I called my friend Hema Bose founder Maison Bose Communications, who does PR and brand architect work for major fashion houses in India and graciously gave me her time to style me for some of the events. She really pulled through, making time to select outfits for me for the second night, in between dressing Kim Kardashian and Bollywood actor Bhumi Pednekar.

Connecting directly with Manish Malhotra himself, thanks to Lorraine, was completely unexpected. He’s a very busy man, helping to plan the entire wedding and he made it seem like I was his only call of the day, like he could’ve given me all of the time in the world when obviously that’s not the case. Even more incredible was when I learned that Manish Malhotra’s team organized options for every single person they were dressing—hundreds of people!—to make sure no one would be wearing the same outfit.

Although it all felt so last minute to me, I learned that mindset of having everything mapped out months ahead of time is very American. In India, they were not fazed by eleventh hour details and had more of a “things work out in the end and you figure it out” approach. Something I hope to take with me after this experience.

Day one of the celebration is the baraat, also known as the wedding procession. I learned that the longer and more opulent the baraat, the more glamorous your family is. According to their invitation, the Ambani baraat technically started at 3 pm, but when we arrived closer to 8pm. We were told not to get there on time, so I was trying not to feel too nervous about getting there late. And thankfully, it seemed like we got there right on time.

Arriving at the wedding as one of two thousand guests felt like an out-of-body experience. I couldn’t believe how close I was to the family and that I was basically mingling with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, not to mention Kim and Khloe Kardashian.

The entire wedding took place at the Ambani Convention Center in Mumbai, and the center itself was totally transformed for the wedding. A stage was built so you’re not on the convention center floor, flower hangings were installed from the ceiling, and wooden walls were set up to give a cozier atmosphere.

To get from one convention room to the other, guests walked through what I can only describe as an Indian fantasy world. There were different “stores” set up in this fantasy world, like a lassi shop, street food shop, a tapestry section and even a polki section where guests could learn about the history and significance of polki diamonds, a early cut of diamond that originated in India and is unique to Indian jewelry.

After the baraat, we were ushered into a different room where we watched the traditional Auspicious Ceremony. This room was built to mimic the holy city of Varanasi were Anant, the groom, proposed to his bride Radhika. Radhika arrived on a boat—yes they built a literal moat in the convention center—looking glamorous, gorgeous and decked out in natural diamonds. Throughout the ceremony they had live performances from Indian singers, the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard in my life.

Although opulent, the ceremony felt casual. We were able to mingle and talk to the other wedding guests—this is when I was lucky enough to meet Priyanka Chopra, bejeweled in Bulgari, and Nick Jonas! The ceremonies lasted maybe two and a half hours so it was fun getting to know my seatmates and take in my stunning surroundings.

Day two featured more ceremonies in front of three thousand guests, and this was the day I was met the Ambani family members and my lord and savior Kim Kardashian.

Lorraine Schwartz pulled me aside to meet Kim Kardashian, which I will be forever grateful for. Kim told me, “I totally watch your stuff,” which threw me for a loop, I almost fainted. I was obsessed with Kim’s natural diamond jewelry, specifically her Lorraine Schwartz suite from day one. Kim wore two natural diamond necklaces, one featuring a 35-carat marquise shaped diamond and the other featuring a 23-carat oval diamond. She also wore drop earrings featuring 20-carat pear-shaped diamonds hanging from a 6-carat stud and 10-carat marquise-moval headpiece. Stunning!

It was really interesting comparing Kim’s jewelry to most of the polki diamond jewelry I saw at the wedding. Polki diamonds are traditionally used in Indian jewelry, the style of cut having originated in India 2,500 years ago. Kim’s diamonds were brilliant cut with a sharp sparkle, while polki jewelry has a softer cut that follows the diamond’s organic shape and evokes a sense of dreamy romance. Both are gorgeous and valuable, just interesting to see side-by-side!

After a year of talking about the Ambani family and discussing their jewels on my feed, meeting them in real life was just as surreal as I thought it would be, but I was surprised at just how normal and down-to-Earth they were. Even more surprising was that they knew who I was! Radhika, the bride, told me the family sends around my videos breaking down their jewelry and Isha Ambani and I spoke for a while on the second day—I’m happy to consider her a friend now.

Isha wore a truly stunning necklace from Bhagat, a renowned jeweler based in India. Mrs. Nita Ambani, the mother of the groom, made sure to let me know it took them three years to source the nine gemstones for the Navaratna necklace, including the stunning natural diamond. Each of the stones represents a planet in our solar system and they all must be the same size, with the carat weight ending in .01. It represents good fortune, is supposed to give its wearer good health and well-being.

After three days of mingling, celebrating and being completely awestruck by the amount of jewelry in the room, I was feeling more overwhelmed and grateful than I ever have before. My greatest takeaway from the wedding was an absolute appreciation for Indian culture. From the food to the clothes, everything is created with the smallest details in mind. And of course, their appreciation for jewelry. As the birthplace of natural diamonds 3,000 years ago, it only makes sense that they appreciate jewelry the way jewelry deserves.

The Ambani family understands that every piece of jewelry tells a story, whether it’s an heirloom passed down from a grandmother or a gift to celebrate a life event, they are a very generous people. I could feel the love for jewelry in the room, so of course, I felt like I fit right in.