THE SULTAN OF BRUNEI HAS SPENT OVER 20 MILLION DOLLARS ON HIS DAUGHTER'S WEDDING..SO FAR !!

Na wah o! I am seriously digging my garden in search of  OIL! I will inform you when I hit GOLD..in this case BLACK GOLD..a.k.a CRUDE OIL!

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 say,

In the photo below, 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 57Grand 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.

Here, the groom, Pengiran Haji Muhammad Ruzaini, wears a formal outfit that Tiampo says "cost $10,000, off-the-cuff." The fabric, she says, appears to be pineapple fiber woven with golden thread. "The pineapple fibers are a bit sheer," she says, "and in warmer climates people want to wear something that's cool but formal. With the gold thread it would be in the hundreds of dollars a yard."

The Sultan and his wife look happy. With 12 children from three wives and at least one already married, the Sultan, 66, may be looking forward to a day when he'll be done hosting weddings. This week's affair, despite being by no means budget, did away with a traditional procession through the capital in an open gilded Rolls Royce that was costly in terms of crowd control and security.

The princess's dress in this photo, Tiampo says, could cost around $20,000. Considering that the bride will change outfits around three times a day during the week of ceremonies, that could be up to $420,000 in wardrobe. This dress uses around 20 yards of custom, elaborately beaded lace. The lace alone would cost between $100 and $200 a yard and the fabric appears to be custom dyed. The tulle veil and tiara (presumably property of Brunei) are not traditional, and show a Western, modern influence.

 The plenty IMPORTANT GUESTS AND VIPS are "a huge planning challenge to move around," Kalman said. Heads of state do not ride shuttle buses. If you needed only 1 car for every four guests, at a typical rate of $200 a car, it would be $100,000 in cars alone per event. The Sultan also might be sending private planes for important guests, which can cost about $10,000 per person. They all seem to be wearing some form of uniform. I wonder how much that cost to pull off!

It's not all expenditures for a wedding in Brunei, however. This picture shows a ceremony in the Throne Hall, where the wedding was held today. Kalman notes that it does not appear to be traditional to use flowers--there aren't any in any of the photos--(a big expense for American weddings) and that "They're going to save a lot of money on alchohol! It's going to be a dry wedding!" 

A LITTLE DISTRACTION ... THE SULTAN'S WEALTH!

Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah ... President of the richest country in the world

Popular, lavish, ...usesgold in everything.Was born literallyeating with spoons made of gold.Clothes worn embroidered with gold and silver.These are some pictures of his palace ...The largest and most luxurious palace in the world...Consists of 1788 rooms withsome furnished in gold and diamond-encrusted

257 bathinlaid with gold and silver and a garage to accommodate 110 cars

The palace has 650 suites ... each furnished atnot less than 150,000 thousand euros

This requires the visitor to spend 24 hours just to inspect each room for 30 seconds

SULTAN OF BRUNEI'S PALACE

The Sultan of Brunei's plane.Most luxurious aircraft in the world, inlaid with goldThe Sultan has alsoa Boeing 747 worth a hundred million dollars

Inside the private jet!

Ok that does it! Im tracing my roots! I have been lead to believe I have ancestors in BRUNEI ROYALTY! lol

Culled from shine.yahoo.com and http://curiousphotos.blogspot.com