Around 350 permanent guests have been attending the marathon marriage of the hotel tycoon and actor Vikram Chatwal to Priya Sachdev, a model who has just been offered her first Bollywood role.

The extravaganza saw them hopping on and off chartered flights, accepting haute couture clothes and gifts daily and partying into the night as part of a three-city jaunt. "It has been hectic for us, but we are pleased to keep our guests happy, " Daman Chatwal, the groom's mother, said.

The Chatwal family, which owns the Hampshire Hotels & Resorts and the Bombay Palace chain of restaurants in the United States, is not without influence. Vikram's best man is Lucas White, who inherited the bulk of a 102m estate when his father, Lord White, died in 1995. The young men share a taste for fine living, music and accumulating expensive cars. Chatwal himself has a penchant for Aston Martins, which he keeps at his homes in Long Island and London's Park Lane.

Another confidant of the groom is the rap performer Diddy (the artist formerly known as P Diddy, Puffy, Puff Daddy or plain old Sean Combs). The latecomers, though, had missed most of the fun.

It all began with a sumptuous party in Mumbai on Monday night. The wedding caravan then moved on to the Shiv Niwas Palace at Udaipur in Rajasthan, where previous guests have included the Queen, Jackie Kennedy and Roger Moore. Gabriella Wright, the groom's co-star from the movie One Dollar Curry, was among guests showered in white petals by nymphs and diverted by Rajasthani dancers performing in silhouette behind huge white curtains.

The next evening saw a Venice Carnival ball at Jagmandir, the island palace featured in the James Bond movie Octopussy. Revellers were transported across Lake Pichola in boats draped with jasmine and roses, to be entertained by men on stilts, fireeaters and actors decked in feathers playing waifs and harpies.

After a Thursday break, the entourage wended its way back to Delhi for yet another party. Almost finally, it was on last night to the Maurya Sheraton, Delhi's smartest hotel, where George Bush is expected to stay when he arrives in town in 10 days' time.

For the grand jaimala ceremony and the exchange of garlands between bride and groom, the dress code was no black or white, only colours.

According to hotel staff, a minimum of 80 dishes were to be served. This morning features the Anand Karaj, the religious ceremony, with a black-tie reception hosted by the groom's parents later on.

A three-week honeymoon in the Maldives will punctuate all the junketing. "We've organised this wedding on a global scale, " Vikram Chatwal said.

"After the rituals are over in Delhi, there'll be a mega reception in New York."