From Radhika Merchant to Kritika Kamra: Ranjani Iyengar on designing invitations for India’s biggest weddings

Q: From engineering to designing, how has your journey been? But before that, why did you make such a drastic career change?

Ranjani Iyengar: It was a very organic change. And looking back, every stage of my education and career has significantly impacted how I run my business today, and when I connect the dots, they were all required for my overall growth.

I’ve had the privilege of working with some amazing leaders and bosses who shaped my thinking and professionalism. Whether it was a consulting job, an IT job, or a marketing job, I realised that infusing creativity into it was my favourite part. Weddings just happened to be the next medium for that. Having said that, art has always been a part of my life since childhood.

Q: You have designed many celebrity invitations, including those for Radhika Merchant and Anant Ambani, Alanna Panday and Ivor McCray, and most recently Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapoor. But who was your first celeb client, and how did they find you?

Ranjani Iyengar: My first celebrity client, if I remember correctly, was Bejoy Nambiar and Sheetal Menon. They found me online and called me. We instantly hit it off when we met, and the process was extremely enjoyable! Around the same time, I also worked with Shruti Merchant for her wedding and Vaibhavi Merchant’s stationery design.

 

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A post shared by Pink Whistle Man By Ranjani (@pinkwhistleman)

Q: Coming to the specifics, Radhika and Anant’s wedding was a topic of discussion for months — before and after they tied the knot. Describe the process of working with them — from the invites to the decor and everything in between.

Ranjani Iyengar: I worked with Radhika’s family very closely for the invites. In the beginning, I was extremely nervous, given the timelines and because I was working on concepts and materials that were new to me. But this is the nervousness I carry every wedding before I find my groove. After the first 10 days, when we started to deliver physical samples, the energy became lighter because I felt more confident about the idea, and they eased into the process too. After that, our meetings and interactions were more fun and easy. Radhika, Anjali, and their parents have an extremely keen eye for detail, and that’s personally my favourite type of clients! The décor required large illustrated and calligraphic installations, venue stationery, and personalised tableware. We assisted Bling Mushrooms with this. It was also my first time being completely involved in the décor process onsite. The whole experience for me was electric!

Q: What were the dos and don’ts you had to adhere to during the Ambani wedding? Did that ever make you nervous or feel intimidated, considering the grandeur and scale of the event?

Ranjani Iyengar: I am always intimidated before every wedding until I am confident with our concept. In this case as well I was extremely nervous until I figured out the style they liked and the right manufacturers and Karigars to bring the idea together. Additionally, we faced several challenges during production that kept our entire team on our toes! But honestly, Radhika and her parents were extremely warm and made us feel very comfortable through the whole experience. There was pressure on the scale and perfectionism of each invite. But the whole process of working on this particular invite was extremely spiritual, and we witnessed several divine incidents even in the making of the invite.

Q: As a creative person, does it ever bother you when clients make too many suggestions — forcing you to deviate from your vision?

Ranjani Iyengar: I usually work with clients who have a clear idea of what our style or USP is. When the style and ideals are aligned, and trust is established, any suggestion from the client only elevates the design process. I enjoy suggestions. In fact, my entire process is very interactive and suggestion-driven at every stage.

A worker busy creating Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant’s wedding invitation. (Pink Whistle Man)

Q: What is the most exciting celebrity wedding you have collaborated on, and why do you call it so?

Ranjani Iyengar: In the recent past, Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapoor’s invite was very exciting because we worked on traditional frame-by-frame animation for the first time! It had a very New Yorker, Jeeves style to it and was more of a celebration invite. Gaurav’s voiceover added a lot of novelty to the invite as well!

Q: How has the wedding invitation industry evolved since you started about a decade ago?

Ranjani Iyengar: I think there are a lot more players in the market. There’s so much diversity available even in terms of invitation designers with different specialisations. There’s more room for experimentation. Stationery by itself has started to dominate a lot of weddings. Invites have become a statement and as significant as a trousseau, food or photography in a lot of weddings! Clients are finding their unique design language.

Q: Many couples today are ditching traditional invites for self-designed e-invites to save money, and this trend seems to be catching on. Has this affected your business in any way?

Ranjani Iyengar: We are not a volume-centric business. We charge a premium for our concepts and design irrespective of whether it is a physical or digital invite, and thus end up attracting clients who give a lot of importance to stationery at the wedding. They look at design as something that sets the tone for the whole wedding. If they want to add physical invites, we factor that into our concept and storyline. So honestly, it hasn’t affected our business in any way.

 

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A post shared by Pink Whistle Man By Ranjani (@pinkwhistleman)

Q: Talking about business, how does your cost model work?

Ranjani Iyengar: We are a zero inventory business. We look at every wedding with a fresh eye and avoid repeating dyes, designs or concepts. Our focus is on exclusivity, and we charge a premium for our conceptualisation and design process. Any physical prints or production costs are additional.

Q: The invite for Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapoor’s wedding had a distinct aesthetic charm. Take us through it.

Ranjani Iyengar: When they came to us, we had a very limited amount of time. But the brief for the whole after-party was so chic and interesting, we couldn’t resist jumping at it! My first meeting with Kritika was so exciting and high-energy that we landed the majority of the storyboard and style that same night. (This process usually takes weeks of brainstorming). The way they approached the entire wedding and after-party was extremely classy, and they didn’t shy away from experimenting. I remember Kritika mentioning something that has stayed with me. Most of their guests were very celebrated and well-known and were already privy to some of the best designs and things in the world. Hence we decided to keep it as simple as possible and just as close to their personality because authenticity is the best stamp on an invite! And this rule of thumb applies to every wedding.

Q: What’s keeping you busy at the moment?

Ranjani Iyengar: We are working on a few very exciting projects. Working with a new medium. One of the projects is based on the idiom, ‘getting all your ducks in a row’; another is based on the classic Indian Kaju Katli, and a few other projects are still in the ideation phase!