When it comes to planning a wedding, we know that the couples and their family members are busy making decisions about locations, venues, traditions, dresses, guest lists and much more, so designing an eccentric invite to match the level of interesting events that you have planned becomes a big responsibility. This is where the artistic wedding-invitation designer comes to the rescue. Also, your invitations are the first impression guests get about your wedding, so you need to take time to get it right.
Do elephants fly? Well, Flying Elephants Designs believe anyone can, as long as they have the wings of imagination. And imagination and creativity are all we need to make boring wedding invites intriguing and dynamic. FED is a brand which takes customization a notch higher by providing an array of design services from branding and communications, corporate gifting, digital brand management and wedding invites. Adding a touch of FED either in stationery, designing or packaging, is the perfect way to bring some colour and vibrancy to otherwise mundane invites, believes Akanksha Sureka, Founder and Creative Director, who credits the garnered affiliation to Flying Elephant Designs’ process of personalization, which digs deep into the DNA of the client’s brief. She wanted to deliver more than ‘Screen technology’ to her clients, as she tells Shubhangi Patil.
How long have you been in the business?
I have been working as a designer at different design studios since 2013. However, I officially started Flying Elephant Designs in December 2016.
How does the wedding invitation process begin at Flying Elephants Designs?
We have broken the wedding invitation design process into six easy steps mentioned below:
1) The earlier the better!
Invites are important not just for giving your guests the essential details, but also sharing a hint at what type of ceremony they can expect. People usually underestimate the time needed to browse, order, receive, address, and mail wedding invitations.
Sending your invites out approximately four weeks prior to your wedding is customary, so you’ll need to give yourself time to search, order, and assemble the invitations before mailing. Start looking at least six months before your wedding, to ensure you have ample time to get those little gems out on time.
2) Browse by color, theme, or style to match your wedding.
We, at Flying Elephant Designs, understand that your guests gain their first clues about your wedding from your invitations. Coordinating a color palette or theme pulls together the individual aspects of your wedding. Flying Elephant Designs allows you to browse by several search fields, so you can easily narrow down your choices. We always tailor our designs to your preferences.
P.S. The bride always wins.
3) Decide on other stationery.
The standard invitation suite includes: the invitation box/envelope, events card, reception card, and nowadays people also love to include favours and stationery, depending on the theme of the wedding, to the invitation suite. At Flying Elephant Designs, we customise your wedding stationery to go with these invites.
4) Determine how many you’ll need.
The easiest way to get an accurate number is to create an Excel spreadsheet. List each household, rather than each person, that you need to send an invitation to. The number of rows in your spreadsheet equals the number of invitations you’ll need. The next step is to add roughly 15-20% to that number. It sounds a bit high but trust us. Between the late guest list additions, handwriting mishaps, invites that get lost in the mail, and any you’d like leftover as keepsakes, you’ll be happy you ordered extra at the beginning.
5) Proofread, proofread, proofread!
Reread and proofread the invitation text with your crazy hat on. This is one time that you REALLY don’t want any errors. A sneaky way to catch spelling errors is to read it backwards. Give it to your mom, bridesmaid, fiancée, or someone else you trust to proofread as well. The more eyes, the better. Make sure commas are in their rightful place, all names are spelt correctly, and please, oh please, make sure the date and year are right.
6) Place your order and breathe.
You’ve made a selection, proofread the text over and over, so the only step left is to place the official order! Pour yourself a glass of wine and take a deep breath. One step down, now it’s our job to make your dream invite come true.
What is your design background?
I have graduated with a Bachelors degree in Mass Media (Advertising) after which I did an Advanced Diploma in Design Communication (Illustration & Image Communication) from Lasalle College of Arts, Singapore, as well as an Immersive course in User Experience Design from General Assembly in San Francisco. I worked as a junior art director at a design studio called Starting Monday Design and Branding Company, and then as a UI/UX designer at Fractal Ink Design Studio.
If the customer chooses a custom wedding invitation, what are the options for colour, paper type and ink?
We start with sharing some ideas from the drawing board with the couple. Once we have gone through the process of designing all the elements of the card, we shortlist a couple of papers based on the budget given to us, as well as what will work best with the design.
What do you advise if wants to include a picture or some kind of graphic on their invitations?
If someone wants to include a picture, I would recommend getting a professional photo shoot done, and we can conceptualize the card around the picture.
What do you have to say about the use of eco-friendly materials?
I think it’s the direction to take for the new-age couples. There are multiple paper, as well as ink options available. Using environmentally sustainable materials also ends up adding that extra edge or quirk to your cards.
What are the current fads, styles, trends and color combinations you think the millennial couple should consider for this season?
- Wedding Invite trends for 2019: Hand-painted Invites
The beauty of hand-painted invitations is that no two designs are the same. Your wedding invitations would be completely unique to you, because the design was created with your personality and relationship in mind. Custom hand-painted wedding invitations are designed with bespoke watercolor designs, along with custom designed calligraphy, and are a great step towards a wonderfully unique and personal wedding.
- Bold & Botanical Envelope Liners
This detail can be just as striking as the invitation itself. An envelope liner is a custom designed paper that is placed inside the flap of the envelope so when your guests open the envelope, the inside of the envelope pops and complements the rest of your invitation suite. Including envelope liners in your invitation suite is one of our favorite wedding invitation trends. The Enchanted Rosé Suite, shown here, is a dark wine color, bold floral design, with rose gold printing balanced with a blush pink envelope, and a lush romantic floral envelope liner.
- Intricate & Interlocking monograms
Monograms are a classic wedding detail that can be created in a variety of ways. You can use your first initials for a two-letter monogram or your hash tag (a trend that has become extremely popular, with social media being an integral part of weddings). Incorporating the monogram as a part of your wedding decor and wedding stationery, adds that extra touch of personalization to the entire wedding experience, especially for the guests. Things to consider while designing your monogram – the font style – cursive or bold – with or without an icon or imagery, and of course, the color!
The happysound monogram, shown here, was inspired by the meaning of the brides and groom’s names, which mean “Happy & Music”, with hints of intricate lace to incorporate the bride Dhwani’s love for delicate florals.
- Quirky themed wedding Invitations
A fabulous themed wedding is planned and all you need is a fun theme-wedding invitation to introduce your day perfectly! Invitations by Flying Elephant Designs help you design and choose wedding invitations that not only fit your theme, but reflect your style as a couple. Shopping for your wedding invitations by themes makes the process a whole lot easier and more enjoyable. The quirky jigsaw puzzle wedding invite we designed for Honey & Anupam was a reflection of the fun wedding they had planned in Goa. Along with the invitations, we also designed the extended stationery, Itinerary, venue signages, monogrammed labels for the water bottles, and mint boxes for the cocktail party, among other things.
These days people are also going digital with their invitations. Do you have digital designing services too?
Yes, we do have digital design services. We make E-invites pdfs as well as Gifs.
What are the signature items at the Flying Elephants Designs?
Our hand-painted invites and the Jigsaw puzzle, both, are our signature Invitations. Images attached below.
Some people really go overboard with the word limit. What suggestions you would give them?
I would advise having minimum words if possible. If there are a lot of family names to be added to the invite, then I would suggest having a separate insert with the bride and grooms’ family names mentioned all together, so then we can keep the event inserts minimalistic and relevant.
Gone are the days when invitations were just words, people are adding sweets, nuts, perfumes, small-gifts, etc. along with their invitations. What new and different things have you seen of this nature?
Flavored tea, personalized stationery (for the invitees), hand-made soaps, terrariums and other desk plants are some of the current trends for wedding gifting with the invites.
What role does an invitation play for that perfect dreamy wedding?
When it comes to planning a wedding, we know that couples are making a lot of decisions about locations, traditions, dresses and more. While all of these are super important, it’s hard to imagine a wedding without one essential element: invitations. Your invitations are the first impression guests get about your wedding, so take time to get it right.
