The Wedding You’ll Remember With Your Nose: A Perfumer’s Diary | Exclusive
An in-depth look at how scent is becoming the most powerful luxury detail in Indian weddings, through the eyes of a perfumer crafting memories that outlast the day
Most weddings are remembered in fragments. A colour palette. A song. A face glimpsed briefly across a crowded room. But there are other details that sneak up on you without warning. The smell of jasmine on warm skin. Rose water lingering in the air long after the rituals are done. A faint trace of sandalwood that brings back not an image, but a feeling. In India, scent has always understood memory better than we have. Long before weddings became productions of scale, fragrance was already doing the intimate work – anchoring emotion, marking transition, blessing moments meant to be carried forward.
Mughal weddings were steeped in ittar distilled from rose, jasmine, sandalwood, and musk applied to the bride and groom, offered to guests, infused into the very spaces where rituals unfolded. It was never ornamental. It signified welcome, purity, and blessing. Guests left carrying fragrance on their skin, ensuring the memory of the wedding travelled home with them.
Rajput royal ceremonies echoed this intimacy. Baraatis were received at palace gates with rose water and flower petals, a gesture at once ceremonial and deeply personal. Even today, rose water at wedding entrances and ittar during key moments remain familiar rituals, so ingrained that they often go unnoticed.
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Seen through this lens, what we now call scentscaping is not a trend, but recognition – a contemporary language for an instinct that has always existed. The understanding that weddings are not meant only to be seen and heard, but carried, remembered, and felt long after the last guest has departed.
What Is Scentscaping?
Scentscaping, the use of fragrance to shape atmosphere and emotional response – has, since the early 2020s, been positioned as the latest indulgence in the big-fat-wedding circuit. A discreet layer of luxury for hosts who have already perfected décor, couture, cuisine, and choreography. Today, perfumers are commissioned much like wedding planners or florists. Entire celebrations are perfume-coded, with crores spent on an experience that cannot be photographed or archived, yet felt long after the final goodbye.
An Instagram Reel That Changed How I See Weddings
My own entry into this world came unexpectedly, through an Instagram reel. It documented a destination wedding in Vietnam, scentscaped by Kastoor, with its founder Esha Tiwari taking her followers through the process. Until then, scentscaping had registered as a passing trend for me – interesting, but peripheral.
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But what that glimpse revealed was something deeper: scent as the emotional spine of a wedding, not an accessory to it. Not decoration, but experience. At the heart of Kastoor’s philosophy is the belief that fragrance shapes memory. Rooted in Indian ingredients and traditions, yet guided by global sensibilities, the brand approaches scent as an emotional language rather than a finishing touch.
What Scent Does That Nothing Else Can
Until recently, I believed weddings were defined by visuals, music, food, and company. I remember months of planning my own – debating colour palettes and menus endlessly. Scent never once entered the conversation. I think back to my own wedding often, in flashes. The heat of the lights. The noise. The way time seemed to move too quickly and not at all. I remember being surrounded, celebrated, exhausted. But if I’m honest, I can’t remember what the room smelled like. No one asked me. I didn’t think to ask myself.
That absence is telling. Because had there been a scent – intentional, gentle, grounding, it might have offered something the day itself did not: a pause. A way to feel held inside the chaos. Perhaps?
Esha reframed that realisation entirely for me. “Smell is the only sense directly linked to the brain’s memory and emotion centers. Years later, a trace of jasmine, tuberose, oud, or citrus will instantly take someone back to that exact wedding. Scent becomes a private, indelible recall.” This is the central truth of scentscaping. Memory does not archive weddings the way photographs do. It stores them as feeling, as atmosphere, as sensation.
How To Scentscape Your Wedding
Indian weddings are euphoric, but relentless. Multiple functions, packed guest lists, constant stimulation. According to Esha, this is where scent becomes transformative.
“A guest’s mental emotional landscape is completely mapped and a well-designed scent reduces sensory fatigue, softens large crowds, and makes even grand weddings feel intimate and responds to the emotional landscape of the guest vis-a-vis the celebration. People stay longer, feel calmer, laugh easier – without knowing why.”
Scent, in this context, is not about indulgence. It is about regulation – easing overstimulation, softening scale, allowing guests to remain present rather than overwhelmed.
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A Very Kastoor Wedding In Vietnam
For the wedding of Ishika Agarwal – daughter of Anuj Agarwal, Vice President CNI & Director Business Development, Vishal Group – Kastoor was given something rare: complete creative freedom. The destination was Vinpearl Resort in Vietnam.
“For Ishika and Divyank’s wedding in Vietnam, the process started with an unusually rare first consultation: complete creative freedom. There was no fixed fragrance brief, only a clear intent – to make the guest experience immersive from arrival to farewell, and to allow scent to quietly carry emotion where words and visuals stop.”
That last line matters. Because weddings today are saturated with both words and visuals. Scent steps in where those reach their limit.
Designing The Olfactive Journey
Conceptual Mapping: Not One Scent, But Many
“Rather than thinking in ‘one wedding scent,’ we designed a layered scent architecture. The wedding was divided into distinct olfactive themes – The Sacred, The Sensual, The Lush, The Memory, and The Coastal, each corresponding to a specific emotional register and set of ceremonies. This allowed us to translate moments like reverence, intimacy, tropical exuberance, nostalgia, and seaside freshness into scent – without overlap or fatigue,” says Esha.
This approach mirrors how weddings are actually experienced – in chapters, not constants. Emotion shifts across hours and rituals. Scent, when designed thoughtfully, moves with it.
Guest Journey Mapping: Scenting Movement, Not Spaces
“A key part of the process was mapping movement. The experience began before guests reached the resort. In-transfer welcome: People were handed a scented organza bloom which carried the freshness and grounding of White Oudh creating what we call the first breath of celebration. This ensured that the emotional shift into the wedding began during transit, not at check-in.”
The wedding doesn’t begin at the venue. It begins the moment guests mentally arrive.
The Threshold Moment: Arrival As Ritual
“At the resort arrival, scent became ceremonial. Cold towels infused with a palmarosa–vetiver mist refreshed guests after travel. The lobby and reception areas were lightly diffused with green tea and jasmine – clean, airy, and grounding. Floral garlands and boutonnieres carried scent at a personal scale, ensuring proximity without overpowering the environment. This moment – The Threshold – was designed to calm, orient, and welcome.”
This is scentscaping at its most intelligent – fragrance brought close to the body, where it registers emotionally rather than decoratively.
The Challenges Of Scentscaping The Great Outdoors
“Each ritual was individually scented, not with dramatic shifts, but with nuanced transitions. Sacred notes like oud, champa, and sandalwood were reserved for ceremonial moments, while fruit, florals, and coastal notes emerged during daytime celebrations and evening gatherings. We also introduced bespoke scented innovations – such as custom fans that released fragrance with each whirl – allowing scent to move naturally through air rather than relying solely on static diffusion.”
The true test came with vast, open, ocean-facing spaces.
“We worked in micro-zones, scenting at human height rather than volume height. We layered scent through multiple touchpoints – fabrics, florals, moving elements, and gentle ambient diffusion. Concentrations were calibrated specifically for coastal airflow, ensuring presence without heaviness. Instead of fighting the ocean, we designed with it, allowing scent to ebb, move, and feel alive.”
Here, scent becomes architectural – designed not to dominate space, but to inhabit it.
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Choosing The Signature Scent
“At its heart was a refined blend of white jasmine and gardenia, evoking elegance, romance, and timeless beauty. To elevate the composition, Kastoor layered in delicate accents of bergamot, creamy sandalwood, and a whisper of white musk, creating a sophisticated, multi-dimensional fragrance that enveloped the venue and left an unforgettable impression on every guest.”
“This base scent was further layered with customized fragrances for each celebration – notes such as frozen jasmine, wild sandalwood, pink pepper, dark rose, dusk oudh, and midnight rouge – ensuring each moment had its own aromatic identity.”
For the wedding day itself, the fragrance shifted in tone.
“For the main wedding, the venue was perfumed with the bespoke ‘Wedding Dusk’, a scent designed to mark the D-day in all its grandeur. On the day of Ishika & Divyank’s wedding, the air was bathed in Kiss of Amber, a golden fragrance crafted exclusively to echo blessings of the divine like grapefruit and cassis to evoke the warmth of eternal love; lily and thyme: joy and abundance; oudh, vetiver, and guaiacwood: stability and protection.”
This wasn’t fragrance for fragrance’s sake. It was symbolism translated into air.
The Cost of Memory
“…It’s (scentscaping) become a significant line item in luxury weddings. Clients are investing heavily in creating immersive scent experiences as a core part of the overall ambiance. Weddings today are seeing a marked shift toward multi-sensory design, and scents are becoming an area where hosts are willing to spend generously to elevate the experience,” says Esha.
For the wedding of Ishika and Divyank, Esha tells me approximately 25–40 kilos of each signature scent were used.
“We didn’t stop at diffusing the fragrances in the air via HVAC diffusers, each scent was also translated into fabric sprays and other subtle applications as stand-bys, ensuring that every space carried its own unique aromatic identity.”
If you’re preparing to walk down the aisle and thinking about adding scentscaping to your celebration, here are a few tips straight from Esha herself.
Esha Tiwari’s Scent Rules For Couples
Choose a mood before you choose notes.
A wedding unfolds over hours and emotions. One scent for everything often feels flat or overwhelming.
A common mistake is choosing a scent you love on skin but that doesn’t translate well in space.
Notes that are fashionable right now (overly sweet gourmands, very smoky ouds, aggressive ambers) can overpower a wedding setting and age poorly in memory.
Personal anchors are primary – like a flower from childhood, note tied to shared travel, etc.
When asked about the ideal time to bring a perfumer on board for wedding celebrations, Esha says sooner is always better. “Ideally, a couple should bring in a perfumer early in the wedding planning process, alongside their key vendors for décor, lighting, and music. Fragrance is a core element of the atmosphere, and integrating it from the beginning allows for a seamless, immersive experience that complements the overall design and flow of the celebrations.”
When The Wedding Ends, But Doesn’t
When a wedding ends, it doesn’t vanish all at once. The music fades first, then the lights. Conversations thin, suitcases are unpacked, flowers are cleared away. What may linger most vividly in memory is the distinct scent. Bottled and revisited, it lives on as a keepsake in the truest sense. Months later, a father opens a cupboard and catches a familiar note clinging to silk.
Esha also told me that she gifted the bride’s father the wedding fragrance – white jasmine and gardenia – so he could return to that moment whenever he wished.
In the end, was it all worth it? For Esha, the answer came through how people felt. Guests told her they felt incredible throughout the celebrations, an affirmation that her scentscaping had truly resonated.
“One of the most emotionally rewarding responses came from the father of the bride, who told me that everyone was absolutely mind-blown. Guests came up to him personally, expressing their awe and amazement, saying they had never experienced anything like our innovations like the Scented Fans before. Hearing that the scents had truly transformed the atmosphere and created lasting memories for everyone was incredibly fulfilling – it’s moments like these that remind me why I do what I do.”
Weddings, in many ways, have reached their visual and performative peak. They can no longer rely on scale, spectacle, or surprise alone. What comes next is far more enduring – a way of designing not just for the day itself, but for the years that follow.
This is where scent begins to matter. As Esha explains, “In modern luxury weddings, scent is increasingly being recognized as just as essential as flowers, music, or lighting in creating an unforgettable atmosphere. Fragrance has the unique ability to evoke emotion, trigger memories, and enhance the narrative of a celebration in ways that other elements cannot. When thoughtfully curated and layered, it transforms a wedding from a visual and auditory experience into a fully immersive, multi-sensory journey, leaving a lasting impression on every guest.”
Long after the last photograph has been taken, it is the scent that remains waiting to bring you back, exactly where you once were.