There’s something magical about a wedding, and the invitation card needs to improve on that idea! Disha Munshaw, co-founder of Customizing Creativity, tells Sara Shah what goes into making the perfect wedding invite
Have you ever looked closely at a wedding card? More often than not, we skim through the wedding details and then toss the card out. Well, you should look a little closer next time, because it takes a lot of effort to make these cards as perfect and personalised as possible. At least that’s what we’ve learnt from Disha Munshaw, co-founder of Customizing Creativity. The brand makes personalised invitations, gifts and luxury stationery, and their clientele boasts of celebrities such as Boman Irani and Aditya Chopra. Read on to find out more about the art of making wedding invitations.
Custom-made wedding invitations have been around for a while now. Is it difficult to come up with new ideas?
Well, so have weddings! However, every wedding still looks new, right? With every new couple and family, we get new briefs! We come up with fresh ideas and concepts from scratch suiting their personal style and taste. It is definitely difficult, but it is also challenging as we want to have something custom-made to suit each client.
What are some of the things that mainstream card makers ignore while designing wedding invites?
One of the most important elements is the font and legibility of the content. The purpose of the invitation is to communicate information of the celebrations clearly. Mainstream designers often use fonts that aren’t clearly legible. Also, the text is sometimes on an extremely busy background. Using extremely cursive fonts can take away from the overall design of the card. Keeping the font simple makes it look elegant, guest friendly and fuss free! Also, we are very particular about grammar, spelling and punctuation. Errors in grammar and spelling can ruin the most well-designed card, and we want it to read right. These errors can hamper the reputation of the family too.
Since you love customised items, do you have a personalised possession that you would call your favourite?
I have a keychain gifted to me by one of my friends gifted me that I love. It has a colourful wire twisted around it to spell my name!
Have you always had a passion for creative arts?
Yes, always! I have fancied them ever since I was a child.
Do you have any go-to ideas for days when you’re falling short of creative ideas?
After creating so many cards and dealing with several families, I think I tend to follow my own formula and form my own interpretation of the designs after meeting the couple or the family! Most of the time, I go with my gut feeling, because I know that if I am happy with the design, the client will also like it. And, when I feel like I’m running low on ideas, I take the day off or spend some time doing what I like, to take a break from designing. Designing half-heartedly will never give you the results that you are looking for.
What are the difficulties that you face in a field like this?
Tight deadlines are the biggest challenge. Most clients expect the job to be done overnight. With the detailing that we add into every invitation, this is not possible. Dealing with the entire family and taking everyone’s opinion into consideration, while keeping every family member happy, is necessary with families in India and quite challenging too.
Where does your inspiration for design ideas stem from?
With every client comes a host of briefs. We create mood boards with colours, images, patterns and textures, and eventually draw inspiration from that, which reflects in our design. Also, at every stage, our rich, colourful culture, heritage and ethnic motifs are a great inspiration for us. So, our eyes are always open for intricate and detailed inspiration.
Do you think that the concept of wedding card designing is threatened, with all these advancements in technology and social media?
I don’t think wedding card design as a profession is threatened. However, I do think that along with physical invites, we have to keep up with electronic cards and social media. It all goes hand in hand. A balance of both is what the client needs today! And at Customizing Creativity, we provide that service!