The traditional invitation cards have a tough competition this wedding season — from their e-cousins. From sending conventional hard copy invites to hundreds of guests, young couples in Delhi are now opting for innovative electronic invites.
“50-70 per cent of my clients have started asking for e-invites,” says Praneeta Kochhar, a wedding planner. The reasons vary — from cost-saving and environment consciousness to convenience and desire to be different. "E-cards are the future. My clients ask for cards with background music, audio-visual clips of their pictures, with recorded invites in their own voice," says wedding stylist Swati Pandya Sood. Kochchar adds, "A couple recently opted for an e-card made as a newspaper — the front page announcing the wedding and page 3 inviting guests for the cocktail."
Designers say that while a traditional card costs anywhere between Rs 50 — Rs 5,000, an e-card, with all its fancy features, incurs only a one time designing cost between R10-15,000. And couples upload them on their ‘wedsites’ for posterity.
“Who wants the hassle of collecting the addresses of all the relatives and fighting with the courier company over delays?” asks Ashish Verma, 27, who preferred an e-card over traditional invites for his recent wedding. “My parents insisted to get 10 cards printed to give at the temple and to elderly relatives. But, even they were impressed,”
{{/usCountry}}“Who wants the hassle of collecting the addresses of all the relatives and fighting with the courier company over delays?” asks Ashish Verma, 27, who preferred an e-card over traditional invites for his recent wedding. “My parents insisted to get 10 cards printed to give at the temple and to elderly relatives. But, even they were impressed,”
{{/usCountry}}Traditional wedding card sellers, however, defend their business. Saurabh Gupta, a dealer in Chawri Bazaar, says, “It’s impossible to completely do away with hard copy invites. This is tradition. Some wearing gowns at weddings doesn’t mean everyone will give up lehngas.”
When the rich go overboard
While the young and tech savvy take to e-cards, there is also a race for overly-expensive wedding invites among the richie-rich. “Rich industrialists spend as much as R20,000 on each invite for high-profile weddings. Gold chains, silver platters... even air tickets for destination weddings,” says wedding planner Praneeta Kochhar.
The numbers speak
* Rs 1,500 crore : Annual turnover of wedding card industry in Delhi
* Rs 40,000: Average cost of invites for a wedding with 500 guests, including courier charges and accompanying sweets
* Rs 10,000: Average one time cost for designing a multimedia e-invite