At every Indian wedding after clothes and food, music is the most crucial element. Whether it be the baraatis dancing, the entry music for the groom, the sangeet songs or even the bidaai music, one mistake can break the entire event. Here are few things to remember while planning the music at your wedding.
1. Never Have a Silent Wedding
It’s simply sad! If you don’t want to hire a DJ at your cocktail night or a small band for your wedding ceremony, have someone create a mix tape and play it over a console. Get wannabe DJ cousins to play their iPod list. It’s the happiest moment of your life, you have to be happy and music releases happiness.
2. Certain moments need a music change
You need to dedicate one person the responsibility of choosing the music when:
- The Jaimalas exchange happens : We recommend temple bells, or an instrumental, haunting music
- The Rings are exchanged :We recommend keeping it english such as "All of you"
- When the bride enters : Read our bridal entry songs list here
- When the groom enters the venue after ribbon cutting: We recommend Trumpets or Dhol.
3. Understanding Basics
It’s very easy to get carried away by your friends and not think about the mummy-papa generation. Make sure that all the music that you play caters to the majority of the crowd and isn’t just one-sided. Look at music that makes everyone happy - mix it up with classics, new trendy songs and fun "young" music. 30% young fun music, 30% classics and the remaining, songs you personally like. The balance will work out! Try
Saavn or
Gaana or
Apple Music to line up songs you like beforehand.
4. Traditions are Important
We know that you aren’t going to play
‘Hukka Bar’ during your
pheras but we like to restrict Bollywood to sangeets and after party events. Go traditional during your pheras, like
shehenai or typical maharashtrian
dhol music, it will be something you'll always cherish. Also, pick music according to your traditions - telugu music if you know your mantras, drums in synchrony if you are Mallu, Shehnai if you are from the north....showcase your tradition too.
5. Go Big If You Can
If you have a no-budget wedding (we all want one, don’t we?), then make sure you fly in the best playback singer that you and your partner love to create an epic concert night of sorts. You then don’t have to worry about any music hassles! Arijit Singh anyone? Or your favourite singer from your favourite band - Junoon, maybe? There are music acts for every budget - from the fun band at college to a small singer to a TV contestant to Badshaah. Pick a budget and see who is available - you'll be shocked at how expensive/cheap you can get an act for.
6. Always, always do a sound-check
You should plan for your DJ to do a walk-through if they haven't worked in the space before. While you might not realise that crashing waves near your seaside location could easily drown out your soft entry song, a pro can help spot and solve any tricky music situations with a sound check. Do a rehearsal dinner sound check before hand to get things in place. Also make sure you use quality equipment - so don't compromise on sound.
7. Performance Music
We simply abide by a cheat sheet when it comes to songs for performances
Couple songs list(
Check out our cool Sangeet song playlist)
Bride solo songs list (
Check out our cool Sangeet song playlist)
Mehendi song list- (
Check out our cool mehendi song playlist)
8. Music Timeline: Make One
When going over your timeline with your DJ, make volume requests: Ask that it be low for chatting during cocktail hour and dinner (like instrumentals and soft ballads) and louder for dancing and second half of the evening. During the function, ask a bridesmaid to keep volume on their radar and alert the band or DJ if there are any issues.
9. The First Song...
Always choose the best song and make it your entry song with your boy. Make a list of songs and tag them as entry song, exit song, dad-mom song, saas-sasur song. Find one appropriate for each person and style! If there is no song that fits you - ask the DJ to mash up two and make it a new song.
