Indian Wedding invites are usually quite design-heavy and filled with elements that reinstate a romantic aesthetic. Therefore, it was exciting to get a brief from a client who wanted extremely simple invites, completely devoid of hearts, florals and the usuals design details associated with the joyous event.

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Both the bride and groom came from science backgrounds and careers, and wanted a design that would reflect a sense of refinement and poise. Dissecting this unique brief, I started looking at alternative inspirations that were still thematically consistent with a wedding invite - constellations in the starry skies, and the complex grids of welcoming rangolis.

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Finally, I re-interpreted the Kolam design - a geometric style of rangoli painting, originating from Southern India. Usually, its intricate patterns are either drawn in chalk or made with powdered chalk, and placed outside homes to welcome guests. This welcoming gesture was something I thought was a nice analogy to welcoming the bride and groom’s guests to their celebration.

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Taking forth the simple grid from the Kolam, I began connecting the couple’s initials - K & S, together - envisioning them in unison as one single element. The ampersand between the 2 alphabets was interpreted as a bird during the concept art stages, but was not taken forward. The designs were initially explored by Aaryama Somayaji with a chalk brush, but based on client requirements, were reverted back to a simple digital stroke. 

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The dots pattern was minimally modified for each customised insert i.e the cocktail night and reception. The corner embellishments were inspired by the Nettipattams adorned on temple elephants, a practice prevalent in Kerala, South India.

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I initially explored a lot more colours, but towards the end, we decided on a regal and rich palette of an olive green, a deep plum, and a really dark royal blue. A marigold yellow was chosen for the text and design elements. Ideally, one envisioned the marigold elements to be embossed in gold during printing, but that was left to the client to see if it fit their budget.