This year has been unlike any other in terms of weddings. We’ve seen Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh, and Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas all head down the aisle in fabulous style.
Back in May, the world’s attention turned to the UK as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle tied the knot in the fairytale wedding of the year. And we were floored by Princess Eugenie’s Big Day look at the other royal wedding in October.
From east to west, across borders and cultures, this year has been a bumper year for Big Days, providing brides-to-be with more inspiration that ever before!
We take a look back at some of the biggest bashes of 2018.
Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja
The Bollywood actress, worldwide fashion icon and two times Khush Wedding cover girl married long-term boyfriend Anand in India in May 2018. The world watched the nuptials unfold through Instagram, mostly through the #SonamKiShaadi hashtag.
The pair wed in Sonam’s aunt’s residence in Bandra, Mumbai, before welcoming friends and the B-town fraternity at The Leela hotel in the city.
Fashion icon Sonam chose an unexpected wedding wardrobe with designers such as Anuradha Vakil, Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla and Anamika Khanna.
Read more about the story here
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
The British Royal Family welcomed Suits actress Meghan Markle into the fold in spectacular style on 19th May 2018. The couple invited 2640 members of the public to the nuptials at St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle, while the rest of us (approximately 1.9bn) tuned in around the world to watch the fairytale wedding live on TV.
Meghan, who was given the title of Duchess of Sussex, wore a white silk Givenchy gown to her I Dos before changing into a second sexier Stella McCartney outfit for her reception.
Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank
The youngest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of York, Princess Eugenie, married her long-term boyfriend Jack Brooksbank in the same venue as her cousin Prince Harry a few months later in October 2018.
The Princess wanted a wedding dress that showed her scar from spine-correcting surgery as a display of support to other scoliosis sufferers. Designer Peter Pilotto delivered a gorgeous low backed gown, which Princess Eugenie accessoried with a rose cut diamond and emerald Greville tiara, on loan from her grandmother, HRH Queen Elizabeth II.
Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh
The Bollywood sweethearts took their romance off-screen when they finally announced their engagement in Spring 2018. Then it was radio silence on the wedding preparations for most of the year until 21st October when Deepika took to Instagram to post a special announcement.
The stars of Ram-Leela and Bajirao Mastani revealed their wedding venue as a private villa in the picturesque Lake Como, northern Italy on 14th and 15th November 2018. However, the pair kept their Big Day super-private asking guests not to share any pictures and carefully uploading coordinated pictures on Instagram. They reportedly spent £112,000 on security to prevent paparazzi from intruding on their special day.
The entire do, which consisted of eight events across two continents and four cities, was heaven for anyone looking for a spot of W-day wardrobe inspiration. The couple favoured India’s elite designers, most notably Sabyasachi Mukherjee, as well as Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla, Manish Arora and Zuhair Murad.
Rolling in the #DeepVeer
• The cost of accommodation at the Lake Como villa reached approx £195,000.
• 12 florists from Florence were flown to Lake Como to decorate the villa.
• The couple purchased a vintage boat to transport guests, costing £400k.
• They hired Versace cutlery for the wedding.
• They insisted on a contract with the chefs to state that the special recipes used for their wedding wouldn't be repeated anywhere else.
• Special chefs from Switzerland were flown in to create the desserts and the Wedding Cake.
• Deepika's favourite coffee was flown in from Bengaluru to serve as welcome drinks.
• Deepika’s Sindhi outfit, designed by Sabyasachi, cost RS8.9 Lakh (approx £10,000).
• Her Sabyasachi wedding jewellery cost RS1 crore (approx £11000K).
• Her Mangalsutra cost RS20 lakh (£22K).
Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas
Hot on the heels of her B-town colleagues, international superstar and former Miss World Priyanka Chopra married US singer Nick Jonas after a few months of dating in an extravagant wedding at the five-star Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur at the end of November.
The actress wore a white strapless Ralph Lauren wedding dress embellished with pearlescent sequins complete with a 75ft long veil. It was so long it needed more than five people to carry it as she walked down the aisle. Extra? Yes. Epic? Definitely! 
Nick wore a Purple Label double-breasted tuxedo with a piece of the bride's dress hand-embroidered with the words My Jaan at the interior lapel of the jacket, just over his heart.
In an interview with People, Chopra said their wedding was a "religious mash-up", saying they "took beautiful traditions that we both grew up with and personalised them in a way that makes sense for us".
PC and Nick both wore Sabyasachi for the traditional Indian ceremony, with her in a ruby lehenga complete with intricate embroidery and Siam-red crystals. The designer released videos which show a glimpse of how the bride's outfit was made, which you can watch below:
Priyanka’s Kanaju Rose Lehenga
The wedding was so widely watched by their collective fan base that at one point, Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas’ wedding became the second most searched on Google.
#NickYanka Wedding Facts
• The 5 carat engagement ring is estimated to cost $300K.
• The two-day celebration at Umaid Bhawan cost $92,000 a night to accommodate guests, with the total cost coming to $461,000.
• The total cost of the wedding was over $550k, excluding the bride and groom's outfits.
Isha Ambani and Anand Piramal
When the daughter of Asia’s wealthiest man gets hitched, it was always going to make headlines. Isha Ambani is the only daughter of business mogul Mukesh Ambani, the 19th richest person in the world. The father of the groom Anand is billionaire businessman Ajay Piramal, who has interests in a range of industries, including real estate, packaging and pharmaceuticals.
The celebrations began in September 2018, when Isha and Anand threw a party at Villa Pliniana in Lake Como to celebrate their engagement. Award-winning singer songwriter John Legend was flown in to perform for guests of the bride, groom and their families.
After attending various events for #DeepVeer and #NickYanka respective weddings (Isha was one of Priyanka’s bridesmaids) it was time for their own Big Day.
The pre-wedding events kicked off in Udaipur’s opulent Oberoi Udaivilas Hotel. VIP guests, including former FLOTUS Hilary Clinton as well as the biggest names in business and Bollywood including Ranbir Kapoor, Karisma Kapoor, Salman Khan, Karan Johar and others, travelled to enjoy a special performance from Beyoncé and party into the night with the happy couple. Isha wore Manish Malhotra to many of her events in Udaipur.
The festivities moved to south Mumbai on 12th December, to the Ambani’s 27-storey residence, named Antilia.
The bride’s wardrobe was an international talking point, as she chose to wear some of the world’s best couture designers. For her dandiya night, Isha chose a pink and pastel hand-embroidered Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla lehenga. When it came to her pre-wedding puja, Isha changed into a dark maroon Sabyasachi piece before changing again into an off-white 16-panelled ghagra with an embellished blouse all draped with her mother’s wedding sari.
Her first reception outfit was a bespoke red velvet lehenga from Sabyasachi. Part of the brand’s zardozi revival series, the stunning outfit was finished with dabka, silver, salma-sitara and bullion work.
Her final look was one that will go down in fashion history. For the first time ever, luxury Italian label Valentino designed an Indian lehenga – just for Isha’s reception. The bespoke piece featured a sweetheart neckline with cap sleeves and a full skirt intricately decorated with gold and silver work. She wore the gold outfit with diamonds, naturally.
Although we don’t have an exact figure, the entire Ambani-Piramal wedding is rumoured to cost somewhere in the region of $100m.
The real Crazy Rich Asians: Ambani - Piramal
• Beyonce reportedly charged $4m to perform at the Sangeet in Rajasthan. However, this sum excludes flights, accommodation, security and Queen Bey’s sizeable entourage.
• More than five 5 star hotels were booked to accommodate wedding guests in Udaipur.
• 100 charter flights to and from Udaipur were booked to ensure the international guestlist could make the occasion.
• Food was donated to 5,100 people, three times a day for four days.
• The newlyweds Isha and Anand will set up their home in a £64m property in India that was given to them as a wedding gift from both sets of parents.
• Their wedding invitations alone cost approx £3,361….. EACH!
Will these Big Days inspire your own party in 2019? Tell us what you think on our Facebook page or Instagram.