Ahh, Indian wedding music. The easiest and the hardest part of Indian wedding planning. Easiest because you can probably wait ‘til the last few weeks to figure it out. Hardest because it’s the most “delicate” part.
Music can make or break your Indian wedding events if you don’t plan them out right.
Why? Let me elaborate…
Imagine this: Or don’t imagine it – remember it from a wedding you’ve been to. Your ears are piercing, ringing every few seconds. A faint screech won’t stop deep inside your ears. You hear the super loud bhangra music. You’re moving to the beat and you try to dance but you can’t escape the volume, ahh the volume is ear pierrrcing, even when you try to get away from the speakers. Then you realize why everyone’s hanging out outside the venue in the hallway. Fail!
Or imagine this: You start writing out music your DJ can play during cocktail hour since you have specific requests. You start listing out songs from [insert your favorite indie band nobody’s heard of]. Just because you like them doesn’t mean your guests want to listen to that music. Potential Fail!
Last scenario: Your guests see the wedding couple dancing, and the dance floor is PACKED. And that means every aunty, uncle, and even ba is out there. Ding ding ding! You hit it on the spot. Success.
Even with an amazing DJ, you still need the right plan. You don’t need to spend a lot of time on it. Here’s what to do so you won’t waste valuable time.
Determine the goal of your Indian wedding music for each event
What’s your goal for your Indian music? You probably don’t know because who has a goal for Indian wedding music? Ok, I did, but hear me out…
An example…
Sangeet: Goal is to get people excited about the weekend, but keep it casual and not too overwhelming. [This tells the DJ not to blast bhangra THE ENTIRE TIME.] Play something welcoming, but not overly party-esque.
Share your goal with your DJ. Talk to out with him/her.
If you don’t care about music selections at all for your wedding, tell your DJ. You can rely on your DJ, that’s part of the job.
But if you’re the not average Rahul and Nisha, then you’ll probably care about your Indian wedding music and what’s played over the weekend (to some degree).
Think about specific places within each event where you can select songs:
- First dance
- Father/daughter dance
- Mother/son dance
- Ceremony entrance (groom’s entrance and bride’s entrance)
- Reception entrance (for couple, family and wedding party)
Get ideas from everywhere, not just Google.
There are some great compiled lists online if you have no idea what kind of music you want. Google is great but don’t forget about Pandora, Spotify, and Youtube. All of these places have so many ideas when you’re trying to find something specific within a genre or mood you already like.
Include a DO NOT PLAYlist
There’s the playlist and the DO NOT PLAYlist. There will probably be that song or two or three, those cliched songs, that you just cannot stand or it’s overplayed. Don’t forget to jot those down so the DJ knows to stay away from them.[For me, it’s Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden and Daler Mehndi’s Na Na Na Re.]
Use Your DJ wisely
You’re paying your DJ not only to play music but also to pick the right music for the right events. Toss some ideas his/her way to so he gets the type of music you both like. At the same time, if you have specific requests, don’t forget to point those out.
Think about your crowd
It’s so important that you don’t just choose random songs you like, but that you think about your crowd first. Who’s attending? You might have a lot of your non-Indian friends but also have tons of family attending. Or, it might be a fusion wedding with family from two different cultures. Find songs that appeal to both audiences. And talk to your DJ about fine-tuning the songs for both crowds.
Generally, you can spend as much or as little time you want to fine-tune your music plan. But if you want to rock your Indian wedding music, a little effort will go a long way.