What Does It Take To Design A Wedding Invite For The Ambanis? Ranjani Iyengar Takes Us Behind The Scenes

Q: From engineering to designing, how has your journey been? However earlier than that, why did you make such a drastic profession change?

Ranjani Iyengar: It was a really natural change. And searching again, each stage of my training and profession has considerably impacted how I run my enterprise right now, and after I join the dots, they had been all required for my general development.

I’ve had the privilege of working with some wonderful leaders and executives who formed my pondering and professionalism. Whether or not it was a consulting job, an IT job, or a advertising job, I realised that infusing creativity into it was my favorite half. Weddings simply occurred to be the subsequent medium for that. Having stated that, artwork has at all times been part of my life since childhood.

Q: You’ve gotten designed many movie star invites, together with these for Radhika Service provider and Anant Ambani, Alanna Panday and Ivor McCray, and most lately Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapoor. However who was your first celeb consumer, and the way did they discover you?

Ranjani Iyengar: My first movie star consumer, if I keep in mind accurately, was Bejoy Nambiar and Sheetal Menon. They discovered me on-line and referred to as me. We immediately hit it off after we met, and the method was extraordinarily pleasurable! Across the identical time, I additionally labored with Shruti Service provider for her wedding ceremony and Vaibhavi Service provider’s stationery design.

Q: Coming to the specifics, Radhika and Anant’s wedding ceremony was a subject of dialogue for months — earlier than and after they tied the knot. Describe the method of working with them — from the invitations to the decor and all the things in between.

Ranjani Iyengar: I worked with Radhika’s family very intently for the invitations. At first, I used to be extraordinarily nervous, given the timelines and since I used to be engaged on ideas and supplies that had been new to me. However that is the nervousness I carry each wedding ceremony earlier than I discover my groove. After the primary 10 days, after we began to ship bodily samples, the vitality grew to become lighter as a result of I felt extra assured concerning the concept, and so they eased into the method too. After that, our conferences and interactions had been extra enjoyable and straightforward. Radhika, Anjali, and their mother and father have an especially eager eye for element, and that’s personally my favorite kind of purchasers! The décor required massive illustrated and calligraphic installations, venue stationery, and personalised tableware. We assisted Bling Mushrooms with this. It was additionally my first time being fully concerned within the décor course of onsite. The entire expertise for me was electrical!

Q: What had been the dos and don’ts you needed to adhere to in the course of the Ambani wedding ceremony? Did that ever make you nervous or really feel intimidated, contemplating the grandeur and scale of the occasion?

Ranjani Iyengar: I’m at all times intimidated earlier than each wedding ceremony till I’m assured with our idea. On this case as nicely I used to be extraordinarily nervous till I discovered the type they appreciated and the appropriate producers and Karigars to carry the thought collectively. Moreover, we confronted a number of challenges throughout manufacturing that stored our whole staff on our toes! However actually, Radhika and her mother and father had been extraordinarily heat and made us really feel very comfy via the entire expertise. There was stress on the size and perfectionism of every invite. However the entire strategy of engaged on this specific invite was extraordinarily non secular, and we witnessed a number of divine incidents even within the making of the invite.

Q: As a artistic particular person, does it ever hassle you when purchasers make too many recommendations — forcing you to deviate out of your imaginative and prescient?

Ranjani Iyengar: I often work with purchasers who’ve a transparent concept of what our type or USP is. When the type and beliefs are aligned, and belief is established, any suggestion from the consumer solely elevates the design course of. I get pleasure from recommendations. In reality, my whole course of may be very interactive and suggestion-driven at each stage.

Q: What’s the most fun movie star wedding ceremony you’ve collaborated on, and why do you name it so?

Ranjani Iyengar: Within the current previous, Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapoor’s invite was very thrilling as a result of we labored on conventional frame-by-frame animation for the primary time! It had a really New Yorker, Jeeves type to it and was extra of a celebration invite. Gaurav’s voiceover added a variety of novelty to the invite as nicely!

Q: How has the marriage invitation trade advanced because you began a couple of decade in the past?

Ranjani Iyengar: I believe there are much more gamers out there. There’s a lot range accessible even when it comes to invitation designers with totally different specialisations. There’s extra room for experimentation. Stationery by itself has began to dominate a variety of weddings. Invitations have change into a press release and as important as a trousseau, meals or images in a variety of weddings! Purchasers are discovering their distinctive design language.

Q: Many {couples} right now are ditching conventional invitations for self-designed e-invites to save cash, and this development appears to be catching on. Has this affected your corporation in any approach?

Ranjani Iyengar: We’re not a volume-centric enterprise. We cost a premium for our ideas and design no matter whether or not it’s a bodily or digital invite, and thus find yourself attracting purchasers who give a variety of significance to stationery on the wedding ceremony. They take a look at design as one thing that units the tone for the entire wedding ceremony. In the event that they wish to add bodily invitations, we issue that into our idea and storyline. So actually, it hasn’t affected our enterprise in any approach.

Q: Speaking about enterprise, how does your price mannequin work?

Ranjani Iyengar: We’re a zero stock enterprise. We take a look at each wedding ceremony with a recent eye and keep away from repeating dyes, designs or ideas. Our focus is on exclusivity, and we cost a premium for our conceptualisation and design course of. Any bodily prints or manufacturing prices are further.

Q: The invite for Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapoor’s wedding ceremony had a definite aesthetic appeal. Take us via it.

Ranjani Iyengar: After they got here to us, we had a really restricted period of time. However the transient for the entire after-party was so stylish and fascinating, we couldn’t resist leaping at it! My first assembly with Kritika was so thrilling and high-energy that we landed nearly all of the storyboard and magnificence that very same night time. (This course of often takes weeks of brainstorming). The way in which they approached your entire wedding ceremony and after-party was extraordinarily elegant, and so they didn’t shrink back from experimenting. I keep in mind Kritika mentioning one thing that has stayed with me. Most of their company had been very celebrated and well-known and had been already aware of a few of the greatest designs and issues on this planet. Therefore we determined to maintain it so simple as potential and simply as near their persona as a result of authenticity is the very best stamp on an invitation! And this rule of thumb applies to each wedding ceremony.

Q: What’s preserving you busy for the time being?

Ranjani Iyengar: We’re engaged on a number of very thrilling tasks. Working with a brand new medium. One of many tasks relies on the idiom, ‘getting all of your geese in a row’; one other relies on the traditional Indian Kaju Katli, and some different tasks are nonetheless within the ideation section!