Russell and Katy Perry in India for Brand new start together

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11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Katy Perry and Russell Brand today began their week-long wedding celebrations in a tent fit for a maharajah.

The Standard can reveal the couple have booked all 10 tents at a luxurious camp in Ranthmabore national park in the northern India state of Rajasthan, historically known for its opulence-loving kings.

Brand, 35, and 25-year-old Perry will have a Hindu engagement ceremony tomorrow and will then go to Rambagh Palace hotel in Jaipur, where Brand proposed on New Year's Eve, for the wedding itself.

The couple have requested a Hindu priest for the engagement ceremony and in keeping with Indian weddings the festivities will last for several days.

An insider at the Aman-i-Khas resort has confirmed they have taken all of the resort's tents, which each cost £830 per night, for their guests.

Each tent measures 30 feet across, with sections for sleeping, dining, a bathroom and vanity area separated by white cotton drapes. Each has a king-sized bed flanked by writing desks and are air-conditioned. The resort also boasts a spa and a huge dining tent.

The park is famed for being the best place in the country for spotting tigers. The couple plan to go on a tiger safari on Thursday.

They have booked more tents for guests at the nearby Oberoi Vanyavilas, a similar five-star resort which costs £740 per night.

A source at the Aman-i-Khas hotel said: "Katy and Russell are going to hold a lagna, or engagement, ceremony today in the afternoon. They have asked for a Hindu priest for the ceremony as they want the engagement to be in true Indian style."

Guests at the wedding are expected to include Brand's friends Jonathan Ross, David Walliams and David Baddiel and Perry's friend Rihanna.

Brand and Perry met at the MTV Video Music Awards last year where he was presenting and she was performing.

He proposed to her only three months later.

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