The Hindu : International / India & World : Ultimate Indian wedding

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 23, 2006
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International - India & World

Ultimate Indian wedding

David Smith and Dan Mc Dougall

Two weddings, 13 designer gowns planned

Elizabeth Hurley

LONDON/UDAIPUR: Down in the village farmers sweat beneath the sun and sari-clad women fetch water from a stagnant water tank. Up in the hills, behind the fortress walls of the 18th century Devigarh Palace, preparations are being made for a wedding — no ordinary wedding. The bride is Britain's own Elizabeth Hurley, and this part of India has never seen a show quite like it.

The joining of the actress turned beachwear designer and her boyfriend, businessman Arun Nayar, promises to be the ultimate Indian wedding and is causing intense debate across the region. If nothing else it will provide a huge boost to the local economy.

The wedding is expected to involve camels and elephants, a series of lavish feasts and an exchange of vows at a specially constructed mandap, before the newly-weds retire to a presidential suite boasting two apartments and its own black marble swimming pool. Along with the magnificent Devigarh hotel, the wedding guests will, according to local sources, also take over suites at nearby Udaipur's famed Lake Palace, the setting for the James Bond movie Octopussy, and rooms in the city's $1,000 a night Oberoi Udaivilas resort, the most expensive hotel in India.

The Indian hotel industry is expecting the extravagant multi-million pound celebrations in Rajasthan to be held in February next year.

Arun Nayar.

Guests will reportedly include Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish, David and Victoria Beckham and Pamela Anderson, as well as Ms. Hurley's ex-boyfriend Hugh Grant and his partner Jemima Khan. What the Devigarh's normally phlegmatic neighbours down in the village of Derwala will make of it all is anyone's guess.

After months of rumours, Ms. Hurley, 41, finally admitted that she and Mr. Nayar, 42, are to marry. "I cannot reveal to you the exact date but it is very close. We are even thinking of having a child."

Reports in Britain claim that Ms. Hurley, is planning two weddings and 13 designer gowns. The first, described as a small family affair, is set to take place imminently at Gloucestershire, U.K.'s historic Barnsley House hotel, close to her 400-acre home in Ampney Knowle. The second will be at the Devigarh, a former maharaja's palace.

It offers the last word in opulence — four staff members for every suite, Indian haute cuisine, a traditional Ambassador car and chauffeur at hand for each guest — yet Ms. Hurley is said to be making adjustments of her own. Not content with the hotel's first class reputation for cuisine, she allegedly plans to fly out three specially hired Michelin starred chefs from London to create a series of menus .

She is also said to have ordered `silent generators' from New Delhi to ensure the party is not disturbed by Devigarh's own generators, which make a barely audible groan when they re-boot. —

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