NEW DELHI: After a big fat wedding, newlyweds Sonam Kapoor and Anand Ahuja hosted a grand reception for their colleagues and friends from the film industry at Mumbai's Leela hotel on Tuesday night. The bride and groom looked very coordinated - she in a chevron lehenga in dark grey, white and gold by Anamika Khanna; he in a black sherwani and, wait for it, sneakers (Anand owns a sneaker brand called VegNonVeg). Sonam and Anand's guest list reads like the who's who of Bollywood - Shah Rukh Khan with Gauri, the Ambanis, Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna, Kareena and Karisma Kapoor with Saif Ali Khan, Katrina Kaif, Alia Bhatt, Ranbir Kapoor, Kajol, Ranveer Singh, Kangana Ranaut, Rani Mukerji, Rekha, Varun Dhawan, Anil Kapoor's Tezaab co-star Madhuri Dixit, Rishi and Neetu Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor and wife Mira, Swara Bhasker, actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha and his wife Poonam, Tina Ambani and politician Praful Patel were among the first arrivals. Sonam's father Anil Kapoor, cousins Janhvi and Khushi, uncle Sanjay with his wife and daughter, Maheep and Shanaya Kapoor, were present to welcome guests.
Please welcome Sonam Kapoor (looking stunning as ever) and Anand Ahuja (in sneakers).
Here are pictures of the family and their guests at the reception. Kangana Ranaut and Rekha both wore sarees - except that Rekha threw us a sucker punch by wearing her traditional kanjeevaram in a distinctly non-traditional way. Call it the Sonam Kapoor effect, if you will. Kareena, Karisma and Saif arrived together, as they do. There were quite a few singletons at the reception - Madhuri Dixit was alone; Rani Mukerji's reclusive husband Aditya Chopra did not attend and both Kajol and Tina Ambani came without husbands Ajay Devgn and Anil Ambani but several other celebrity couples were pictured together - SRK and Gauri, Twinkle and Akshay, Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra, Rishi and Neetu Kapoor, Shahid and Mira Rajput, Jackie and Ayesha Shroff, Shatrughan and Poonam Sinha and others.
Alia Bhatt attended with Ranbir Kapoor, which is sure to trigger rumours of a romance. Varun Dhawan escorted rumoured girlfriend Natasha Dalal.
Katrina Kaif brought along sister Isabelle. Ranveer Singh, in the absence of rumoured girlfriend Deepika Padukone, was photographed with "Padmaavat" director Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who directed Sonam and Ranbir Kapoor in the debut film Saawariya.
Mukesh and Nita Ambani attended with son Akash and his fiancee Shloka Mehta.
Sonam Kapoor married Anand Ahuja, a businessman in a traditional Sikh ceremony this morning at her aunt's bungalow in Bandra. She wore a red Anuradha Vakil lehenga and accessorized her look with stunning jewellery. Anand wore a gold sherwani.
Bollywood celebrities including Amitabh Bachchan, Aamir Khan, Rani Mukerji, Kareena Kapoor, her sister Karisma and husband Saif Ali Khan, Ranveer Singh, Swara Bhasker, Jacqueline Fernandez and other A-listers attended the Anand Karaj ceremony in the morning.
After the festivities are over, Sonam Kapoor will take over her professional commitments, which begins with an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival. Their honeymoon has reportedly been deferred by some months.