The future is paperless: Are digital wedding invites the new norm?
After a surge in popularity post-Covid, digital wedding invitations are now seeing a shift as couples embrace a hybrid approach. While digital invites offer practicality and cost savings for a global audience, the emotional connection of physical invitations is making a comeback, especially for close friends and family.
Digital invites took the Wedding Industry by storm post Covid. It was fresh, appealing, easy to send out and easy to access. It had its novelty factor and it rode the tide well for the last 4 years.
However, in the recent past we are noticing an increasing number of clients opting for a hybrid model. A fun animated invitation to create the initial buzz and a more formal/physical invite for a select intimate guest list.
Save the dates and invites that are sent out digitally are definitely more practical because
Its hassle free to send to a global audience
Helps you save both print as well as mailing cost
Simplifies the logistics of inviting
RSVPs and gathering responses from the guests are easier
However having ridden the practical wave for a while, couples are gradually leaning back to physical invites again albeit a smaller number.
Because at the end of the day a wedding is an emotional affair.
The charm of personally inviting someone with a physical invitation and a box of treats has its special place. The world is already moving into very isolated segments with minimal human contact making it an extremely impersonal. Weddings by definition were meant to be a celebration of union amongst friends and family and were meant to be as personal as it gets! The warmth that you feel when you receive a personalised invitation at your door step, or have your friend/ family come home to invite you is unparalleled to an mp4 file you receive on your WhatsApp.
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What works best is a hybrid list of guests who would receive the digital/physical invites depending on level of closeness, geography, age group or any other parameters.
Minimising the quantities for physical invitations allows for enhancing the quality and level of personalisation of the product. Additionally, to address the point about sustainability in a field which was largely print driven, sustainability can be achieved by creating keep sake physical invites, upcycling or refurbishing material, adopting alternate materials or using high grade recycle paper and last but not the least adopting a hybrid model of both digital and physical invites.
By Ranjani Iyengar
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