MIHIR LELE
MY WEDDING BRANDING
Identity Design | Character Design | Art Direction
#PersonalProject
Synopsis
This 'project' will remain closest to my heart since these are creatives I designed for my own wedding. My wife and mother-in-law insisted that I design the cards and the collaterals, since they had seen me work on a bunch of these for my friends and pointed out that this would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us- it would be the groom designing his own wedding cards!
I reluctantly agreed, but soon became aware that this would be my most fulfilling projects yet.
Logo Design
The logo was designed, as all wedding logos are, to be an aesthetically pleasing combination of the initials of the couple's names. What made it special in our case was that, I chanced upon a design while exploring options, that not only combined our initials, but also, very evidently formed the shape of a butterfly, which in Hindi is referred to as "Titli" - my wife's daak naam (pet name).
The wings of the butterfly on the left form the letter "M" while the stem in the middle along with the right wing form the "P" while overall coming together to form the butterfly.
The logo was well appreciated by all family members, so much so, that it adorned the reception stage at our wedding.
Illustration Style
I decided to go with an illustration style that comes naturally to me- a style that puts cute looking cartoon characters in different settings, almost like artworks of a comic book.
Although I was a bit skeptical about using this style for a wedding design, as it doesn't have the traditional aesthetic that is often associated with an Indian wedding, I decided to go ahead with it anyway, since the illustrations were fun, quirky and honest- much like our vibe and by extension, the vibe of the wedding.
The illustrations were designed to be almost like extensions of our personalities, with the characters even looking a bit like us- that would immediately connect with all the guests who knew us, making the invites and the collateral designs very real and personalised.
Save the Date Invite
The venue for our wedding was this hotel in Kolkata (India) called Raajkutir Swabhumi- a hotel designed along the lines of a traditional Bengali home. And so, to tie-in a little traditional aesthetic into my otherwise fun designs, I decided to include some hand illustrated flower motifs as part of all my invites.
Wedding Invite
Once our characters were designed, I placed them in different settings with complimenting actions, to visually depict the functions in the best possible way, for the invites.
Another element from our wedding that I decided to incorporate in the invites, was the Marathi- Bengali connection, by way of typography. While some functions were primarily Bengali and some Maharashtrian, I decided to have the titles of all functions in the invites in both languages, with an overarching title in English for clarity. It was, in my opinion, a nice touch to depict two different cultures coming together.
Aiburobhaat
‘Aiburobhaat’ loosely translates to 'Aiburo' (bachelor) and 'Bhat' (Rice) . The ceremony celebrates the last meal of a bachelor. In many Bengali families, this ritual is most common. In Bengal, one traditionally does not have a Bachelor party, so the ‘Aiburobhaat’ is simply the Bengali’s bachelor’s party where the groom and bride dress up and get to eat a whole lot of items.
(What made this illustration special is also the fact that my wife had already decided her outfit for the event and hence, I could incorporate the same colors and style into the illustration. We re-created the picture on the day that you can see below)
Sangeet
The cocktail night before the wedding that involved music, drinks and a lot of moves!
Haldi
A function involving the ceremonial applicaltion of turmeric on the couple, the morning of the marriage. But, with friends involved, who's to say this too, won't become a party!
Wedding
Since it was a Bengali style wedding, complete with all rituals, I decided to illustrate the most quintessential of them all for the wedding insert - the "Shubho-Dhristi", where the bride covers her face with a betel leaf and is carried by her brothers on a peeri (wooden plank meant to be used to sit on the floor) and take seven rounds of the bridegroom before being face to face with him for the ‘Shubho Drishti’, literally translating to ‘auspicious sight’. In traditional arranged marriages, the boy and girl never used to see each other until this moment.
Apart from each of the invite pages having a different flower illustration complimenting the nature of the function, each of the invite pages also had a distinct circular illustration at the bottom of the page. These illustrations had a special purpose. Together, these circular illustrations became a thematic representation of our wedding, encapsulating the different functions into one chain of events- when placed together. I used these in multiple places, including the first page of the invite (below) and welcome notes. Individually, I used the circular illustrations on collaterals such as masks as well.
The main wedding invites also became full blown illustrations for entry signages for all functions, that I designed myself. Not only did this extend the branding to the actual wedding floor, as everyone identified the illustrations from the invites, but also lent itself beautifully to every function as the guests resonated with the emotions in the illustrations, making the overall vibe of each function happy and positive, much like the character illustrations.
Baraat
For the Baraat (a celebratory wedding procession that escorts the groom to the site of the wedding) I wanted to add a little Marathi touch to the celebration. So instead of doing the Safa turban that is the go-to for any Baraat, I decided to use the Gandhi caps, that are used in many if not all Maharashtrian events as head gear, especially during Ganpati- BUT! Not without adding a little illustration touch to them.
I printed some Baraat styled illustrations, complete with characters dancing and playing the dhol , on one side of the topis, and the words "Marathi Squad" written on the other. This became the perfect attire for all Mumbaikars in Kolkata going to get the Bengali bride, alongside the Maharashtrian groom.
Credits:
Copy for all invitation card pages: Suman Quazi
Wedding Decorator: Debamita Singh
Still Photographs: Md Mustafa, Parnadeep Mukherjee
Photography Lead: Saurav Dey
