At a Brahmin Iyengar wedding we designed, at The Grand Castle on Palace Grounds, Bengaluru, two singers took the stage alongside a mridangam, a violin and two tanpuras. The guests listened from their chairs.
Look at the cover photograph the way a guest does and you see the music: two singers, a gold curtain, rows of chairs facing the stage. Look at the edge of the stage and you see what the music stands on: cables across the red floor, water bottles within reach, an instrument bag at either end. Nobody comes to a wedding to see these, and the evening depends on every one of them.
The singers were S Aishwarya and S Saundarya, great-granddaughters of M. S. Subbulakshmi, the first musician to receive the Bharat Ratna. Saundarya told The New Indian Express in March 2026 that M. S. Subbulakshmi believed only about 50 percent of practice reflects on stage.
S Aishwarya and S Saundarya, in a green and a purple silk sari, singing at the wedding. Photo: The Taaffeite Lens, Taaffeite Events.
“Practise is essential — the more effort in the music room, the easier the concert.” Saundarya, The New Indian Express
We hold the same rule for a wedding: the more effort before the guests arrive, the easier the day.
Sources: Tejal Sinha, “Legacy and learning shape sisters’ musical journey,” The New Indian Express, March 2026; Britannica, “M.S. Subbulakshmi.”
More from this wedding: Picked Before It Opens.
- carnatic music
- iyengar wedding
- wedding music
- bengaluru
