Wedding is one of the most important event of life. Before the exact date of marriage, marital preparation starts well-in-advance to ensure proper execution the marriage ceremony. In India, It all starts with family get-together, selection of marriage dates and then it comes to shopping. Marital shopping starts few months before the marriage. The shopping list on both side basically includes home-needs including home interior stuff, decorative vases, perfumes, dresses etc. But for both parties, be it bride or groom, the most important thing in the shopping list is wedding card.

Often in Indian middle-class families the main concern in shopping of wedding cards is to get proper design of invitation card at pocket-friendly cost. Wedding card is the first hint your guests get for your marriage event. It gives a glance into how much enjoyable the ceremony is going to be. Ideally a wedding card should look richer, cleaner, bright and gorgeous. Shining patterns on the cover of wedding cards along with relevant religious wedding symbols is probably the most suitable one.

Due to vast variety of religions in India, it is very obvious that people with different religion prefer their different style of wedding cards. Muslims prefer wedding cards with green color having some urdu religious writings on the cover and symbol of star enclosed by moon shape in accordance with their religion, as green is the color of Islam. Hindu wedding cards are usually Maroon, Red, Silver, Golden, orange or violet colors which are luminous colors adorned with symbols of Lord Ganesha, swastik, marriage horses, shehnai( mangal vadya) etc. In Hinduism the colors with luminous shades are believed to be symbol of celebration. In Christians, Wedding cards with plain rich designs and minimal symbols are preferred by people. In Sikhs, celebrative luminous colors are chosen along with symbols like Ek Omkar (Sikh religious symbol similar to ‘om’ in Hinduism), Kirpan (ceremonial sword or dagger), and Guru Nanak(religious Guru of Sikhs).

In the age of kings and queens “ Shahi Farmans“ were used to convey royal messages and give invitations. Following to those Shahi Farmans the latest trend spread in Indian wedding card markets is Scroll invitations which are quite similar to Shahi Farmans. Adding a twist to the trend, some unconventional people also choose trendy non-traditional and luxury wedding cards which are quite different than conventional ones. Wedding cards come in variety of forms designer wedding cards, traditional wedding cards, unconventional wedding cards or scroll invitations.

Type of invitation card which is going to be sent to the guests is choice of the host. But few things are critical for choosing invitation card for any level of marriage or celebration. Here are those critical points anyone should consider before purchasing wedding cards.

Before choosing your wedding card supplier-

– Start preparing the purchase atleast 3-4 months in advance before the marriage.
-If you believe in tradionalism, do some search on tradional wedding cards and details it should include.
– If you prefer unconventional wedding cards, have some creative ideas in advance and ask to people for innovative advices for invitation cards.
-Plan the content details to be printed inside the card. Preferably you should have a look at wedding invitations you already have at your home.
-Decide the colors and styles of paper, fabric or any material that is going to be used in wedding invitations.
-Decide the budget expenses you can afford for wedding cards.

Choosing the wedding card supplier

-Search on internet, checkout in your localities, have a glance at matrimonial classifieds or call local search provider companies. These are the places where you could probably find good vendors for invitation cards.
– Go through the price ranges and design galleries they provide to choose your wedding card design. The one with affordable(this doesn’t mean lower) prices, higher qualities and higher varieties are preferable.
– Narrow down your choices and select one of them for your final purchase.

Questions to ask the wedding card suppliers

– Ask them whether they ask for additional shipping charges or provide free shipping.
– Ask vendors if additional taxes apply on purchase
– Ask the selected vendors if they provide additional customization and help in creating wedding wordings. Because professional expertise is always more preferable.
– It is wise idea to have suggestions from the previous customers of that vendor. So ask the vendors if they can provide contact numbers of their previous customers.
– Ask if the printers provide add-on cards if needed.
– Ask the time when you would have your first proof-copy of wedding invitation. And the time they would take to re-correct it and print the final bunch of wedding invitations if it happens so.
– And finally confirm the shipping time and delivery date when the cards will reach you. Ideally the wedding cards should be there at your doorstep before 4-5 weeks of marriage.