IDEA & INSPIRATION
The idea came from the names of the bride and groom; Dhwani which means Sound and Chirag which means Light. The coming together of Light and Sound!! Could there be anything more romantic for a couple?
Keeping with the cultural ethos, I turned for inspiration to the ancient folk art style of Bihar region of India called Madhubani. This folk art is said to have originated at the time of Ramayan, when King Janak commissioned artists to do paintings at the time of marriage of his daughter Sita, to Lord Ram. I have added and modified the motifs to bring the idea alive. Though the invite was in English, I used a calligraphic Sanskrit font to give the Indian flavour. To add to the flavour, I designed the invite in form of an Indian manuscript, in long rectangular size, wrapped in a handmade paper envelope and tied with a sacred thread called ‘nadachadi’.
Keeping with the cultural ethos, I turned for inspiration to the ancient folk art style of Bihar region of India called Madhubani. This folk art is said to have originated at the time of Ramayan, when King Janak commissioned artists to do paintings at the time of marriage of his daughter Sita, to Lord Ram. I have added and modified the motifs to bring the idea alive. Though the invite was in English, I used a calligraphic Sanskrit font to give the Indian flavour. To add to the flavour, I designed the invite in form of an Indian manuscript, in long rectangular size, wrapped in a handmade paper envelope and tied with a sacred thread called ‘nadachadi’.
Light & Sound: My first sketch, attempted in a Madhubani folk art style with contemporary depiction ofthe idea. Traditionally Madhubani paintings were made to bless the married couple where the theme usually revolved around love & fertility. I have incorporated the elements of the theme in this depiction.
Below are close-ups of each of the elements of the sketch rendered in the colors of Madhubani art...
'Chirag' meaning light, depicted by the sun and the parrots surrounding are symbol of fertility.
'Dhwani' meaning sound, depicted by the sound waves.
Peacock: Male Peacock, fans out it's tail to dance, calling its mate for a union. It's a symbol of love & fertility. This dance is a great sight of grace & beauty.
Elephants: In addition to providing a means of transport for the groom, an elephants are a symbol of good luck and fortune that is showered on the couple on an auspicious occasion. The elephant 'vāhana' represents wisdom, divine knowledge and royal power
01 Cover design : Chirag & Dhwani, Light & Sound coming together with all the other elements to celebrate this auspicious occasion
This is the first page of the 4 page invite that was held together by a gateway paper.
An Introduction to the couple written by Milind Dhaimade
02: Invite for day1 - Starts with introduction to the couple with the commencement of the celebrations with 'Mehndi-Sangeet', the traditional 'Mehndi' (henna applications on hands & feet) and 'Sangeet' (a traditional dance & music evening, hence the element of dancing peacock).
03: Invite for day 2 - the Wedding Ceremony, where the bridegroom arrives on an elephant.
04: Invite for day 3 - the Wedding Reception, summing up the celebrations with a lovely evening under the stars...
A Wedding Schedule Card with a direction-map on the reverse was sent along with the invite
Bag Tags: To facilitate hotel check-in and quick identification of luggage, the guests on the groom side were given the red tags and the brides side, the blue ones.
The whole Invite set was printed on an offset machine and the matt gold was screen printed over it.
Then the invite set was wrapped in gateway tracing...
..which was then wrapped in a handmade paper...
...and tied with a colorful sacred thread called 'nadachaddi'.
Special thanks:
to the bride & groom & thier families to understand the concept and make a united Invite,
to Milind for writing the text matter,
to Varun who helped me with the production of this card,
to Nina for the packaging concept,
to all those who helped me in putting this whole invite together.