As weddings in India are getting bigger and fatter every year, each element be it big or small associated with them is also rapidly changing. Gone are the times when invitation cards for social events were merely simple announcements of nuptial bonds. Today these invitation cards have emerged as a medium to give its attendees a hint on what to expect from the invitees larger than life wedding.
In a candid conversation with the biggest names of invitation card designs industry
Ravish Kapoor of Ravish Kapoor Innovative Invitations and Sandy Khurana of The Entertainment Design Co, we at EE trace the emerging trends in invitation cards designs and the future that lies ahead of it.
Q-What is the average price range of the invitation cards that you design and how flexible is it?
Sandy Khurana- Well, it is a trick question as working on a invitation card is a creative process. On the basis of the brief we get we work upon a few designs, there are meetings, production cost for the samples and so much more. So it becomes a project cost rather than the cost of an invitation card. But in general sense you can get an invitation card for 400 INR and then the range goes up to as high as you want. It is basically like ordering the toppings on a pizza, the more toppings you want the more expensive your pizza will be.
Ravish Kapoor- Price of an invitation card is a very personal subject. Whenever we are discussing a design with a client we ask them to come experience the kind of work that we deliver first and then we can discuss the other details. By sharing an approximate price for an invitation card we limit ourselves in terms of creativity and what can we add to the overall concept and hence its always better to give clients an experience of what we deliver and then everything else can follow.
Q- Share with us the story of the most unique card you have designed so far?
Sandy Khurana- The key to our business is innovation and doing something different every time so picking just one of our designs is very difficult. But to answer your question, for a client in Dubai recently we created a coffee table book on Shiv and Parvati as a part of the overall wedding invitation. The book was content driven and very artistic, also it had a brass trishool which locked the book and held it together. So i think it was one of the most unique and creative work that we have done so far.
Ravish Kapoor- Recently for an industrialist we designed a box for I-Pad which was a very different concept. Also once we did an invitation card which also had a smartphone inside, which the attendee had to bring to the event for entry. For the box of the card we had designed it in the shape of a Lotus which went really well with it. The concept was unique and interesting and it was fun working on it.
[caption id="attachment_22561" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Ravish Kapoor Innovative designs[/caption]
Q- What are the latest trends in terms of invitation card designs for social events?
Sandy Khurana- I feel that the success of an invitation card today lies in its packaging. As it is a sure shot way of how can you make a card different from all the others. So innovation is certainly a long lasting trend but the emphasis on the packaging of the entire card is the latest trend.
Ravish Kapoor- The wedding card invitation industry is so dynamic that every day there are new trends entering and taking over the existing ones. But I think digital innovation in cards is the latest trend as people have really absorbed the social media wave.
Q- An on-going trend currently is the process of sending creative e-invites instead of physical cards. Do you think this culture will affect the traditional invitation card business?
Sandy Khurana- Weddings in India are very big and everyone has big desires for them. E-Invites are best suited for international invitations in the absence of proper logistics or for 'Save the Date' invitations but sending physical invites for your wedding is a tradition as old as the concept of weddings itself and is very important. Even in case of e-invitations not everyone understands technology and hence i don't see anything taking over the concept of sending out invitation cards.
Ravish Kapoor-Not at all, Indians are still very rooted and traditional in their approach. Yes there are a few new age couples who believe in the cause of saving the trees but the majority of people in India still prefer conventional and traditional wedding concepts and thus tangible wedding invitation cards are here to stay forever,
Q- Do you predict any changes in the invitation card business 5 years down the line?
Sandy Khurana- There will be a shift to digital and invitation cards in the future will see an innovative integration of technology in them. This is undoubtedly where things are heading as of now.
Ravish Kapoor- Obviously technology amalgamation in invitation cards is the next big thing and we at Ravish Kapoor innovative designs are already in the process of creating something refreshingly new with it.
