A celebrity wedding designer's guide to creating the perfect invites

The choice is simple, when invited, you either end up going to a wedding or not. And while the reasons behind this decision could be a myriad of them, we are wondering if an enticing wedding invite could be a lure. 

What might be a static image or a video that conveys the couple’s love story has a lot of thought and meaning behind it. And one of the people putting this thought into art is Itchha Talreja, an award-winning designer and founder of Itchha Talreja Designs, who created the invites for the engagement of Parineeti Chopra with Chadha along with that for Aaliyah Kashyap’s engagement. 

Brides Today catches up with Talreja, who speaks about making each wedding invite unique, having the couple’s love story stand out, the prominence of a video invite, and much more.  

Brides Today: When and how did you realise that this is something that you want to do?

Itchha Talrega: It started when a friend asked me to design a wedding invite for her back in 2015. It was very spontaneous and it was when I created something beautiful and pretty that I realised how much better it was compared to a corporate job. 

BT: Could you tell us about this first wedding invite that you designed?

IT: It was honestly not a very grand thing. It was for a friend in Australia who was getting married in Thailand. She wanted something with a lot of colour, so we made things bright. But of course, our design sensibilities have changed over time. 

There wasn’t any form of pressure here. But yes, when you make something for a friend, compared to a client, there is pressure to make your friend happy. The emotional and personal investment is certainly more here. 

BT: As far as wedding invites go, what do you and your brand do differently compared to others?

IT: Our designs are more minimalistic. We do not put every element that exists in the world into the creative just because you’ve paid me a lot. It’s more about white space than crowding things. We put in a lot into personalisation that sees us conduct a series of meetings with the client to understand their likes and preferences. This helps us create a memory that stays not just for the couple but the guests as well. 

BT: What is it that a wedding invite should and should not have?

IT: It’s not about what a wedding invite should not have. People usually put a lot of things in the form we give. But in today’s digital age, you don’t need to have everything—family names, events, etc. Just keep things simple and minimal and do not crowd the invite with unnecessary information that just isn’t required. It always looks better. 

As far as what it should have, I think an invite must only have the details that are absolutely required. This means the date, venue, time, and the names of the couple and their parents. Nothing else. 

BT: With each couple and their love story being unique, how does one make invites that are different from each other?

IT: Everyone’s love story is different, and that has to reflect in their invite as well. Like I mentioned earlier, the meetings with the client give us an understanding of their personality, tastes, and preferences along with them giving us an insight into how they met and fell in love. This helps us design a wedding invite that is all about them. 

Recently, there was a girl who wanted a monogram on the invite, one that reflects her personality. She asked for herself as an old-school princess with modern thinking, who loves Starbucks. The groom, on the other hand, is a start-up comic who loves Ramen. They were getting married in Portugal. So what we did was that we took the two together and made a logo out of it. 

BT: What is it that clients tell you that makes your job easier?

IT: Everyone who has come to me says that they want something ‘unique’ and ‘out of the box’. They aren’t very specific. But you have to understand their preferences. And that’s why I share a lot of moodboards and concept notes, for them to know what they want. The client usually come with a brief that is very vague and generic. We sit with them and tell them, ‘this is our illustration style, do you like it?’ We don’t copy what we’ve already done and always give them something new and different. 

BT: With everyone having the same digital tools, what do you need to do to be one step ahead?

IT: What sets us apart is how one uses it. It’s more about the concepts and how you execute it. As far as my inspiration is concerned, I am constantly researching and seeing different art forms. I like exploring different things and am on Pinterest and Instagram to see what is being made and seek inspiration from those creations by making something different. 

BT: Tell us about a video invite and its importance when it comes to weddings today?

IT: Videos and static invites are the two forms of a digital invite. The former is seen a lot today because those beautiful print invites, which were very popular back in the day, don’t have many takers now. This is why clients want to make it special and stand out rather than using just one static image. The video is the first communication to the wedding and that sets the theme. When it comes to the static PDF that is sent, this is done after sending the video invite. This is because guests who are old, or not tech-savvy can’t read the text on the video (since the standard duration is a minute or 80 seconds max). It’s tough to keep track of multiple events on a video, so you can take your time by reading it on a static invite.  

BT: What’s the main takeaway for anyone who sees an invite designed by you?

IT: They should not forget it. Since it sets the theme, and is the first medium of communication, the guest who gets the invite should want to come to the wedding.