Like Sonam Kapoor-Anand Ahuja, young couples go for paperless wedding invites

Actor Sonam Kapoor and fashion entrepreneur Anand Ahuja have ditched paper invites for their May 8 wedding and have sent out a customised e-invite that guests would flash on their phones at the venue entrance. This is an approach taken reportedly for the sake of sustainability. And this idea has struck several digitally-inclined, regular young couples, too.

Wedding planners say that eco-friendly invites are popular with young couples nowadays. “We recently did a wedding where there were no paper invites and no mithai ka dabba. E-invites were sent by mail and WhatsApp — people are going completely paperless. These e-invites are innovative and the younger generation is looking at things that are easier and simpler,” says Vandana Mohan, wedding planner.

E-invites are cheaper to create; can be easily updated in case timings or venues change; save postage or courier hassles; and they can also make tracking RSVPs easier. E-links for everything that your guests require, including maps and menu options, are useful additions to the e-invite.

Wedding invites in the form of videos are a part of this trend. “These invites are cheaper than the huge boxes of invitations, leading to less wastage. Video invites often include images from a pre-wedding shoot, compiled to make an invite. Many couples want to share their love stories through customised animation [clips], followed by the invite,” says Saloni Doshi of Happy Invites, a company that makes video invites.

Amanpreet Sassan, a 27-year-old designer who got married in February, says that her friends and family loved her video invite. “We got a video made, along with an e-link. The purpose was to go paperless and decrease the workload of sending out the wedding cards. We hadn’t expected people to be so receptive, but everyone loved the video,” she says .

Different options of e-invites in the market today.

However, the traditional printed invites aren’t left in the dust yet — far from it. “Yes, the [digital wedding invite] trend is evolving and couples are opting for e-invites, but there are some families who, after the first round of conversations about e-invites, come back to us and say that a ‘real’ invite is important — woh toh bhejna padega (that has to be sent),” says Punit Jasuja, wedding planner. The paper invite is important for the parents of the bride and bridegroom, and wedding planners sometimes make two types of invites — virtual and real — for two generations. “Sending the card along with sweets is an age-old tradition that many are reluctant to let go of,” adds Jasuja.

Bridegroom-to-be Anshum Valecha, a 29-year-old businessman, agrees that the older generation’s opinion must be respected. He says, “We’ve got e-invites along with the traditional invites, as sending sweets is a tradition and a wedding card is something relatives look forward to.”