Most Expensive Indian Wedding Ever conservative figure of $55 million.

Indian press go crazy for mega-bucks wedding

The groom wore a garland made of bank notes and received a helicopter as a gift, there were 18,000 guests -- or perhaps it was 30,000 -- and 1,000 workers took 40 days to prepare the venue.

The exact details have been fiercely disputed, but Thursday s newspapers in New Delhi were all in agreement that this had been one very big, very fat Indian wedding.Lalit Tanwar married his bride Yogita Jaunapuria at a family farmhouse near the city in a ceremony celebrated with 100 dishes, 12 giant TV screens to broadcast proceedings, and even a gift of $5,500 for the groom s barber.

The Times of India calculated the cost of Tuesday night s extravaganza uniting two influential political families at one billion rupees ($22 million), while the Mail Today went for the less conservative figure of $55 million.

"I don t understand why there is so much hoopla about this marriage," the groom s father, Kanwar Singh Tanwar, told the Times. "All estimates of this marriage in the media are speculation." In the Indian Express, he was quoted as saying: "True, a Bell 429 helicopter was given but it was a simple wedding."

Kanwar Tanwar is a hugely wealthy city politician from the ruling Congress party, while the bride s father is a former politician in the capital -- making the arranged marriage a perfect power deal.

Celebrations are set to continue with another reception on Thursday and a final gathering on Sunday at a five-star hotel attended by Prime Minister Manmohan SinghManmohan Singh and Bollywood stars such as Shah Rukh KhanShah Rukh Khan and Aishwarya RaiAishwarya Rai.