8 min learnNew DelhiAug 13, 2026 06:00 AM IST
“I was extraordinarily nervous,” admits Ranjani Iyengar when requested about working with Radhika Service provider and her household for designing the invitations for the much-talked-about Ambani wedding ceremony in 2024. However inside 10 days, all of the jitters had vanished, and Ranjani, who runs Pink Whistle Man, an award-winning boutique stationery enterprise, had an “electrical” expertise. Not only for the billionaire household, through the years, Iyengar has additionally designed bespoke invitations for celeb purchasers, together with Kritika Kamra-Gaurav Kapoor, Bejoy Nambiar, and Alana Pandey.
” I normally work with purchasers who’ve a transparent thought of what our model or USP is,” she tells indianexpress.com in an unique electronic mail interview, during which she additionally talks about her journey, her design philosophy, the evolution of the marriage business, and her “zero stock” enterprise mannequin. Learn extra beneath:
Q: From engineering to designing, how has your journey been? However earlier than that, why did you make such a drastic profession change?
Ranjani Iyengar: It was a really natural change. And searching again, each stage of my training and profession has considerably impacted how I run my enterprise as we speak, and after I join the dots, they have been all required for my general development.
I’ve had the privilege of working with some wonderful leaders and executives who formed my pondering and professionalism. Whether or not it was a consulting job, an IT job, or a advertising and marketing job, I realised that infusing creativity into it was my favorite half. Weddings simply occurred to be the following medium for that. Having mentioned that, artwork has all the time been part of my life since childhood.
Q: You may have designed many movie star invites, together with these for Radhika Service provider and Anant Ambani, Alanna Panday and Ivor McCray, and most not too long ago Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapoor. However who was your first celeb consumer, and the way did they discover you?
Ranjani Iyengar: My first movie star consumer, if I keep in mind accurately, was Bejoy Nambiar and Sheetal Menon. They discovered me on-line and referred to as me. We immediately hit it off once we met, and the method was extraordinarily satisfying! Across the similar time, I additionally labored with Shruti Service provider for her wedding ceremony and Vaibhavi Service provider’s stationery design.
Q: Coming to the specifics, Radhika and Anant’s wedding ceremony was a subject of dialogue for months — earlier than and after they tied the knot. Describe the method of working with them — from the invitations to the decor and the whole lot in between.
Ranjani Iyengar: I worked with Radhika’s family very intently for the invitations. At first, I used to be extraordinarily nervous, given the timelines and since I used to be engaged on ideas and supplies that have been new to me. However that is the nervousness I carry each wedding ceremony earlier than I discover my groove. After the primary 10 days, once we began to ship bodily samples, the power grew to become lighter as a result of I felt extra assured concerning the thought, and so they eased into the method too. After that, our conferences and interactions have been extra enjoyable and straightforward. Radhika, Anjali, and their mother and father have an especially eager eye for element, and that’s personally my favorite kind of purchasers! The décor required massive illustrated and calligraphic installations, venue stationery, and personalised tableware. We assisted Bling Mushrooms with this. It was additionally my first time being utterly concerned within the décor course of onsite. The entire expertise for me was electrical!
Q: What have been the dos and don’ts you needed to adhere to in the course of the Ambani wedding ceremony? Did that ever make you nervous or really feel intimidated, contemplating the grandeur and scale of the occasion?
Ranjani Iyengar: I’m all the time intimidated earlier than each wedding ceremony till I’m assured with our idea. On this case as properly I used to be extraordinarily nervous till I discovered the model they preferred and the precise producers and Karigars to carry the thought collectively. Moreover, we confronted a number of challenges throughout manufacturing that saved our complete group on our toes! However truthfully, Radhika and her mother and father have been extraordinarily heat and made us really feel very comfy by the entire expertise. There was strain on the size and perfectionism of every invite. However the entire means of engaged on this specific invite was extraordinarily religious, and we witnessed a number of divine incidents even within the making of the invite.
Q: As a artistic particular person, does it ever trouble you when purchasers make too many strategies — forcing you to deviate out of your imaginative and prescient?
Ranjani Iyengar: I normally work with purchasers who’ve a transparent thought of what our model or USP is. When the model and beliefs are aligned, and belief is established, any suggestion from the consumer solely elevates the design course of. I take pleasure in strategies. The truth is, my complete course of could be very interactive and suggestion-driven at each stage.
Q: What’s the most fun movie star wedding ceremony you’ve collaborated on, and why do you name it so?
Ranjani Iyengar: Within the current previous, Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapoor’s invite was very thrilling as a result of we labored on conventional frame-by-frame animation for the primary time! It had a really New Yorker, Jeeves model to it and was extra of a celebration invite. Gaurav’s voiceover added loads of novelty to the invite as properly!
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Q: How has the marriage invitation business advanced because you began a few decade in the past?
Ranjani Iyengar: I believe there are much more gamers out there. There’s a lot variety accessible even when it comes to invitation designers with totally different specialisations. There’s extra room for experimentation. Stationery by itself has began to dominate loads of weddings. Invitations have change into an announcement and as important as a trousseau, meals or images in loads of weddings! Shoppers are discovering their distinctive design language.
Q: Many {couples} as we speak are ditching conventional invitations for self-designed e-invites to save cash, and this pattern appears to be catching on. Has this affected your online business in any manner?
Ranjani Iyengar: We’re not a volume-centric enterprise. We cost a premium for our ideas and design regardless of whether or not it’s a bodily or digital invite, and thus find yourself attracting purchasers who give loads of significance to stationery on the wedding ceremony. They take a look at design as one thing that units the tone for the entire wedding ceremony. In the event that they wish to add bodily invitations, we issue that into our idea and storyline. So truthfully, it hasn’t affected our enterprise in any manner.
Q: Speaking about enterprise, how does your price mannequin work?
Ranjani Iyengar: We’re a zero stock enterprise. We take a look at each wedding ceremony with a recent eye and keep away from repeating dyes, designs or ideas. Our focus is on exclusivity, and we cost a premium for our conceptualisation and design course of. Any bodily prints or manufacturing prices are extra.
Q: The invite for Kritika Kamra and Gaurav Kapoor’s wedding ceremony had a definite aesthetic appeal. Take us by it.
Ranjani Iyengar: After they got here to us, we had a really restricted period of time. However the transient for the entire after-party was so stylish and fascinating, we couldn’t resist leaping at it! My first assembly with Kritika was so thrilling and high-energy that we landed the vast majority of the storyboard and elegance that very same night time. (This course of normally takes weeks of brainstorming). The best way they approached your complete wedding ceremony and after-party was extraordinarily elegant, and so they didn’t draw back from experimenting. I keep in mind Kritika mentioning one thing that has stayed with me. Most of their company have been very celebrated and well-known and have been already aware of among the greatest designs and issues on the earth. Therefore we determined to maintain it so simple as attainable and simply as near their persona as a result of authenticity is the very best stamp on an invitation! And this rule of thumb applies to each wedding ceremony.
Q: What’s protecting you busy in the intervening time?
Ranjani Iyengar: We’re engaged on a couple of very thrilling initiatives. Working with a brand new medium. One of many initiatives is predicated on the idiom, ‘getting all of your geese in a row’; one other is predicated on the basic Indian Kaju Katli, and some different initiatives are nonetheless within the ideation part!
