Caricature wedding invitation videos: what they cost and what you get

The three kinds

Template caricatures. A bride and groom drawn once, with big heads and small bodies, sold to every couple who picks the design. Your names and dates go in; the faces are not yours, or your photo's face is cut out and placed on the drawn body. Makers such as WishNWed and Selfanimate sell these from about ₹299 to ₹999, rendered in minutes.

Custom caricatures. An artist draws the two of you from your photos, then animates the drawing into scenes. Studios such as VideoGiri list these from about ₹599 to ₹35,000 depending on how many scenes and how much animation, typically delivered in two to three working days with one or two rounds of corrections.

Illustrated invitations. The two of you painted in proportion rather than exaggerated, in artwork drawn for your wedding. That is what Wedyay makes: ₹1,499, about twenty minutes after a five-minute chat.

What to ask before you pay

• Is the face drawn from my photo, or is my photo cut out and pasted on?
• Is this design sold to other couples?
• How many rounds of changes are included, and how long does each take?
• Are all our functions included, or is each extra slide charged?
• Is regional script (Devanagari, Gurmukhi, Tamil and so on) included, or an add-on?
• What file do we get: resolution, length and size? Under 16 MB matters for WhatsApp.

Caricature or illustration?

Caricatures are fun and families love them, especially for a sangeet or a mehendi. They age fast, though, and the elder generation does not always find a big-headed groom as funny as his friends do.

An illustration in proportion works for the whole guest list, from the cousins' group to your grandparents, and still looks like the two of you in ten years.