Sultan of Brunei’s Daughter’s Wedding Costs $20 Million

Sultan of Brunei's Daughter's Wedding Costs $20 Million

Possibly the most lavish wedding the world has ever seen happened Friday, in Brunei, where the Sultan's daughter Hajah Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah, 32, married a 29-year-old civil servant. The ongoing week-long celebration is estimated to involve 2,000 guests and will end this Sunday night when the newlyweds are presented at court. The ceremony itself, according to the UK paper The Daily Mail, took place in the Istana Nurul Iman Palace, a 1,700 room palace that's home to the Sultan and his family.

The princess's older brother, heir to the throne of Brunei, married in 2004 at a speculated cost of $5 million, reports speculate, but wedding planner Maya Kalman, founder of Swank Productions in New York City confirmed Yahoo! Shine's suspicion that this wedding might cost much more than that. "The rule of thumb for our average luxury wedding is $1,000 per guest," Kalman says. "I would guesstimate that a no-holds-barred event like this could easily be $15 to $20 million." Those figures include only the wedding itself.  Additional celebrations throughout the week could sum up to an additional $15 to $20 million, Kalman speculates.

Based on their culture, Princess Hajah Hafizah Sururul Bolkiah attends a ceremony ahead of the wedding. In Muslim countries like Brunei, "A wedding is a reflection of your family, culture and values," says Saukok Tiampo, founder of the 576Grand line of bridal wear and editor-in-chief of Revel-Blog.com.  "It's different from an American wedding, which reflects more on yourselves and your love for each other." The princess is the fifth child of the Sultan and his wife, Queen Saleha.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Sunday September 23 2012, 7:35 AM EST. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0