The title is “MY” Wedding Invitations because Nouman and I have separate invites. The desi way of making invitations is that each family makes their own invitation and then gives the other side inserts to the day they are hosting. For example, since Nouman’s family is hosting the Valima, they would give us an X amount of Valima inserts to give to our guests.
To make things less complicated, we decided to create our own invitations – it makes things easier and everything looks prettier!
Here is the story of my invitations…
I had a clear picture of what I wanted before I left for Pakistan. I wanted:
- The cover of the card to be black (what can I say, I’m a dark person)
- A monogram
- A pop of brightness by using my favourite colour as an accent
- Either a satin ribbon or a crystal brooch
Simple enough, right? Wrong.
I had heard that there is a strip of stores in Saddar (Karachi) that sell only wedding invitations – this is where I wanted to go. However, my mom was reluctant to go as this area is dominated by males and not a place for women to wander alone.
So what did I do? I went to every card store I came across. Literally. I found some really nice cards but nothing that really stood out to me. Most of these stores were tiny and did not offer options to customize the cards – if I liked the pattern, I couldn’t change the colour; if I liked the colour, I couldn’t change the design.
I asked my mom if we could PLEASE just go to Saddar. She refused.
My mamoo (uncle) overheard us one day and suggested that we use the same person who he got his invitations from 2 years ago. The best part of using his contact was that we didn’t have to go anywhere – he would drop off his samples and we could let him know what we wanted after a few days. Yes, only in Pakistan can you order everything from the comforts of your home. With around 8 days to go before our departure, I agreed.
Unfortunately, after 4 days of him not showing up, we gave up. We had 4 days left for our vacation and I was definitely not going to waste them by waiting for someone. Left with no other choice (Okay, I’m lying. Obviously, I could have settled for a non-custom card but I didn’t want to give up without trying), my mom decided that we would (finally) go to Saddar. I was beyond excited. I was envisioning a huge area (think open-mall concept) with fancy card stores.
I was disappointed. Majorly.
I had never been to Saddar before but it is definitely not what I was expecting. My mom and grandmother had warned me that it’s a sketchy place but its way more run down than I had thought. By the way, prior to leaving for Saddar, my mom and grandmother thoroughly checked how I was dressed – I tried to fob out my Hijab style slightly so I wouldn’t stand out. Saddar, I suppose, is like any other grungy downtown area – old, crowded and grimy.
We went into a few stores and one common factor that stood out to me: every store we entered, we were treated as if we don’t exist. We would wait around forever but people would not pay attention. However, if a male came into the store, they were serviced right away. I was pretty pissed. My mom told me to shush myself (I started “tutting” loudly at some point) and not draw attention to us as “this is how things are here.” That issue aside, I didn’t find anything that stood out to me. Nothing that I found unique or remotely “us.”
At the end of the strip we were at, there was a small store that we were passing by. We peered inside and the place was small enough to (maybe) tightly hold 4 people. Yeah, I didn’t want to go in. My mom and grandmother forced me to go in and give it a try.
I am SO glad I did.
There was a young guy working there and as soon as I started talking, he totally got me. I explained what I wanted (complete with ugly scribbles – aka my drawings) and he pulled out samples of exactly what I wanted. He didn’t have a card exactly as I wanted but we were able to piece together my vision through explanations, drawings and samples. We put down our deposit and he promised he would send me the design that same night.
I loved what he sent.
We went back the next day and spent 4 hours editing everything. I also found my favours on the second trip. We received our invitations a few hours before we were leaving and I was beyond happy with them. I loved (and still do) them and they are exactly what I wanted.
Enough of my blabbing though – check them out below! 🙂
Like them? I do! (Get it? Haha. I’m so lame)
p.s. If you’re getting married, or are planning to in the future, I would totally recommend that you go to A Lavish Affair taking place on Friday. The people (erm, owners?) at Lavish Dulhan Magazine offered me tickets to the show but unfortunately I can’t go 😦 Some of the top vendors in the South Asian Wedding Industry are attending – I SO wish I could go. If you’re interested in going, either contact me or Lavish Dulhan for tickets!
May 31st, 2012 at 8:02 am
Nice!!
May 31st, 2012 at 9:16 am
Thanks! 🙂
~ Shaza ~
May 31st, 2012 at 10:27 am
Thats a beautiful card Shaza!! Ithe colors, the design , the fonts…all put together beautifully!! May u have a wonderful and perfect Wedding!! And a Happy and Blessed Marriage! 🙂
May 31st, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Thanks Nida! Took us 4 hours to create and edit it but totally worth it 🙂
Thank you for the well wishes!
~ Shaza~
May 31st, 2012 at 10:39 am
I like how the ribbon has your names on it. And the stenciling done, is it silver? Very nice!
May 31st, 2012 at 2:56 pm
Thanks 🙂 Yup, it’s silver
~ Shaza ~
May 31st, 2012 at 11:06 am
Cute… yet Elegant 🙂
May 31st, 2012 at 2:57 pm
Thanks Madiha!
~ Shaza ~
June 1st, 2012 at 1:26 pm
Not a problem, would u be posting pics of ur wedding. i would really like to see, 🙂 And yes wedding preps are amazing when done Abroad (pakistan/india) cheap and AMAZING….
June 4th, 2012 at 10:46 am
Yup, I’ll be posting pictures after the wedding! 🙂
~ Shaza ~
May 31st, 2012 at 12:35 pm
Lovely cards MashAllah! You’ve got the same font on your cards as on the blog signature 😉
May 31st, 2012 at 2:58 pm
Thanks Zahra! I am SO glad you noticed – I think you’re the first person 🙂 YEAY! Haha
~ Shaza ~
May 31st, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Hi Shaza,
Could you tell me who did you get your cards done from..the shop name and the guys name would be great. We had a horrible experience from a guy in sadar and unfortunately due to a death in family the wedding has to be moved and we are going to reprint cards. So we will use the guy you used.
you can e-mail me if you want to at tea1234@ymail.com
Thanks a lot
May 31st, 2012 at 3:03 pm
Hi Amber,
I am so sorry to hear that. I don’t remember the name of the place we got them from – it was a TINY shop right at the end of one of the streets in Saddar. The guy we dealt with was Furqan. This is the one place I don’t remember the name of – so sorry! I’ll ask my mom if she remembers and let you know if she does.
You can also try Ilyas Press (in Saddar too) – my friend used them for her siblings weddings and had positive things to say about them.
~ Shaza ~
June 1st, 2012 at 12:37 am
Your invites are beautiful! Love the ribbon band too 🙂
June 1st, 2012 at 9:33 am
Thanks Mary! I saw your picture from India – you look beautiful 🙂 Hope you had a good time!
~ Shaza ~
June 1st, 2012 at 6:36 am
LOVE your cards!!! they sooo dont look like most of the invites i have seen from Pakistan!
June 1st, 2012 at 9:43 am
Thanks Zara! Pakistan actually has some amazing invitations – I didn’t want to spend too much so created this. You’re right though – most of the places have the generic ones but endless options if you want to customize 🙂
~ Shaza ~
June 7th, 2012 at 10:53 am
wow mashalah ur card is awesome. ive read da other post n ive seen u dnt remember da shop but if u do please post it i love the cards. thanks….