Kunal Rawal's Guide To Creating A Soundtrack For Your Wedding
“There is nothing stronger than music to set a mood,” says Rawal.
In 2022, menswear designer Kunal Rawal took to designing not just the outfits, but also the soundtrack for his wedding to fellow designer and long-time romantic partner Arpita Mehta.
According to Rawal, Indian weddings are all about melodies. With its slew of diverse ceremonies — sangeet, mehendi, haldi, pheras — music becomes that invisible fil rouge that connects everything together.
Kunal Rawal On Selecting The Right Music For Your Wedding
Crafting a soundtrack
“Nostalgia trumped everything for her entry,” reminisces Rawal of Mehta’s choice of soundtrack, which was a nod to the first film the couple watched on a date. Similarly, every other beat of the couple’s two-day wedding celebrations was punctuated with a blend of live and recorded music — thoughtfully selected by Rawal himself.
As a designer and creative, Rawal is no stranger to the world of music. He is an ardent lover of Punjabi music and rock and roll. Prompted by the need to find the right soundtrack for his clothes as they went down the runway, Rawal began creating his own music for fashion shows, mostly renting studio spaces for more than half a decade to develop these perfect tunes.
“My clothes are modern yet rooted in tradition. So there’s a uniqueness, which led to me creating a new sound,” he explains of his tinkering with music. It was only natural then that he crafted the music for his wedding to Mehta. For the sangeet, Rawal curated a soundtrack that shapeshifted tonally every hour.
The first performance of the evening came from his long-time collaborators and friends Akshay Raheja and IP Singh who paid homage to the couple’s journey through customised Singh who paid homage to the couple’s journey through customised electro-folk music.
This was followed by DJ-duo MadStarBase (a personal favourite for the couple), a surprise high-energy musical. set by Badshah, and a final selection of hip-hop tracks from the nineties and the early noughties by DJ Ganesh.
Raheja, a long-term friend of the couple, was also responsible for the live music that played during the wedding pheras. This created a soundtrack laden with the classical notes of a tanpura — an instrument Rawal associates with the “start of everything beautiful” in classical Indian music.
Underlining the beginning of the couple’s own journey together, the piece also featured elements of a handpan — a moving ode to Mehta and her sister’s love for the instrument.
Finding your melody
Weddings are a pivotal marker of change — in the lives of the couple of course, but also their families and friends. Hence, perfecting the accompanying soundscape is key. In India, with such a diverse range of languages, couples are spoilt for choice while curating their wedding soundtrack. From Sanskrit chants to Punjabi folk tunes to the sonorous divinity of hymns like Ek Onkar, the ‘it’ wedding soundtrack is the one that has the most relevance and significance to the couple at the centre of the ceremony, says Rawal.
To illustrate, he recounts the sentimental soundtrack of a friend’s wedding in Goa — a musical celebration of the couple’s college days. With live music by vocalist Rohan Mazumdar, the set ranged from classic numbers by Elvis Presley and Saturday Night Fever classic 'Staying Alive' to more contemporary numbers by the likes of Bruno Mars. But when it comes to Rawal, the defining beat of an Indian wedding is the “powerful sound” of a harmonium.
“To me, it is the sound of union and tradition,” he reflects. It’s an instrument that has kept him company since his school days and featured heavily in Sehra, the album that he launched this year alongside his label’s July couture showcase.
Setting the Mood
According to Rawal, understanding the tonality of any ceremony is important. The mehndi, being the first in a series of wedding events, becomes the first point of reference for guests. “Based on the music of the mehendi, guests can understand what the wedding and other events will be like — and that not only sets the mood for what to wear but also for how they will enjoy the wedding.”
For instance, he continues, “a traditional wedding ideally should not have contemporary saxophones playing at the mehendi. That’s just confusing for everyone.”
For the sangeet, music becomes essential to ambiently spill into the event’s following ceremonies. Rawal advises that the quieter musical vibe of a ring ceremony should seamlessly transition into an upbeat tempo complementing high-energy dance performances by family members, prepared over months. For rituals like the haldi and mehendi that are deeply rooted in tradition, Rawal counts dholkis or live performances as the key to setting the perfect auditory mood.
The power of live music
Globally, couples are increasingly inclined towards curating intimate wedding experiences
that centre and reflect their journeys. From venues to cutlery to music, couples today are far more involved in their wedding planning than before.
“For long, these were decided for you, as weddings were for your family. But now, that’s changing,” observes Rawal. As a result, people are increasingly opting out of private DJs scoring a ceremony with contemporary soundtracks, and scouring for nostalgia-led, customised, genre-bending live music instead. Live music is pivotal to accentuating the sonographic experience of a wedding, says Rawal, who recalls being “wowed and enamoured” by many wedding performances.
“A beautiful live music session at a wedding will always stay with you long afterwards,” he muses. Live music has the quality to move you. Especially in destination weddings — far removed from the bustle of urban metropolises — its transportive power is undeniable. “But that again is the power of life,” explains Rawal. “It adds another layer to the texture of
a wedding.”
This has been adapted for the web from an article published in Manifest’s December 2024-January 2025 issue that is now on stands. For more stories like this, subscribe here!