You’re cordially invited RSVP WhatsApp style

In what can be called a new benchmark for the new media, traditional wedding invitation cards are now being replaced by digital ones, sent through instant messaging apps.“Even if they are printed, they are just a few. Only WhatsApp messages are being sent now,” says Manoj Kothari. And this happens for the wedding between Kothari Family and Manakana family.

WhatsApp, the most popular messaging app, has become safer and easy option. It saves paper, money and effort too. “We had our cousin Anisha Kothari, an interior designer’s wedding with Vinay Makana, on May 19 at Hotel Ramada Manohar. We haven’t printed a single card for the solemn occasion. We got the cards designed. The cards are designed in Hindi only because our community uses only this language. We have 1,500 guests on our invitations list to be invited for the marriage.

All we have done is we sent Soft Wedding Cards on WhatsApp to all our guests. That is all,” he said.“We have also made a cost effective slide show which says Vinay and Anisha invite you to celebrate the most memorable day of their life. Awaiting your presence. Please be there 7 pm onwards. Both these WhatsApp wedding card and video film are then followed by a phone call for personalisation. For some important relatives, we have taken a few colour photocopies.

Rest all is managed by WhatsApp, email and text messages,” Manoj informed. “We have saved almost Rs 1.5 lakh on printing them. And quite a decent sum is also saved on postage. We would like to donate this money for a good cause, which we have not decided yet. The biggest saving is the paper. And the fuel we would have spent on distributing the invitations,” said Manoj.

“We are not saying wedding cards will be totally replaced by this kind of a medium.

But definitely few cards are required and large chunk of them can easily be done away with,” said Vinay Makana, the groom. “The idea just came to us when whole world is making a hue and cry about environmental concerns. That is when we decided to go ahead with soft invitations. Many of our elders were not in favour of it. But, few also said, nobody tried it before. Now we have been getting lot of positive feedback,” said Anisha Kothari.

“Under these changed circumstances and tech savvy world, the hottest cross-platform mobile instant messaging app WhatsApp is not only emerging as threat to the social networking sites but is also replacing traditional methods of invitations for happy and sad occasions informed Lokesh, a Social Media specialist.

Apart from weddings, people are using WhatsApp for inviting people on occasions like birthdays, naming ceremony, house warming ceremonies and also for sending condolence messages. “It is fine to note that WhatsApp is replacing the traditional wedding card invitation. But, what about the personal touch which people use while inviting people personally? That is not possible in this case,” avers Avinash Kumar, who is into traditional wedding cards business.

“The socialising which happens while distributing invitations personally is also lost. No matter what apps are invited, traditional wedding invitations cannot be replaced,” he added. Manoj Kothari retorts, “That is fine. The personal touch is good. But, people have become very busy. Marriage means far too many arrangements to be made. Travelling to places to invite people also takes lot of time. It is more so in case of nuclear families. WhatsApp comes a boon when marriages are fixed suddenly. In such cases it works well.”