NRI and destination wedding invitation video, for guests flying in

How early should you invite guests from abroad?

Earlier than feels necessary. Guests abroad have to get leave, book flights in peak wedding season, and sometimes apply for a visa. A rough timeline that works for most families:

On visas, we will not pretend to know the rules for every passport, and they change. Tell guests to check the official visa website for their passport early, since processing times vary by country and season. Guests holding an OCI card do not need a visa for India. For a destination wedding outside India, your Indian guests may need visas too, so check that before you fix the country. If a guest's application asks for an invitation letter, write a proper signed letter; a video invite is not a substitute.

For the first step, see our save-the-date video page, and for the whole calendar, when to send wedding invitations.

Will guests abroad see the right time?

The video and the e-card always show the venue's local time, as you type it: "7:30 PM" in Jaipur means 7:30 PM in Jaipur. That is what guests need on the day.

The difference shows up in calendars. In the editor, set Time zone of the venues (India, UAE, Singapore, UK, US East, US Central, US West, Canada (Toronto), Australia (Sydney) or Nepal). On the ₹999 invite website, when a guest taps "Add to calendar" (Google Calendar or an .ics file for Apple and Outlook), the function goes in at the right moment in their own time zone. For a sangeet at 7:30 PM in Jaipur on 4 February 2027:

There is one time zone setting per invite, for all its venues. If the mehendi is in Delhi and the wedding is in Dubai, make two invites, or set the zone to where most functions are and write "(IST)" or "(UAE time)" next to the odd one out in your message.

What should an invite for overseas guests include?

More than an invite for guests who live ten minutes from the venue. The video carries the core details; your message carries the rest.

• City, venue and full address for every function. On the invite website each venue opens in Google Maps if you paste its Maps link.
• The nearest airport and whether you are arranging pickups.
• Where to stay, if you have a room block, and until when it is held.
• What each function is, for friends new to Indian weddings. "Haldi: turmeric paste, wear old clothes" saves one white linen shirt.
• Dress notes: something yellow for the haldi, dressy for the sangeet, Indian wear for the wedding if they like (and where to buy it).
• An RSVP date. Hotels and caterers need numbers well before the week of the wedding.

Which language and design work for a family abroad?

English works for everyone. Bilingual (Hindi first, English underneath) is a good middle path when your guests are Dadi's friends in Lucknow and your colleagues in London, as in the Jaipur sample at the top. There is no other script yet: no Gujarati, Punjabi (Gurmukhi), Tamil or other languages.

Royal Maroon & Gold suits a palace wedding in Rajasthan. For a crowd that leans modern, or a wedding in Dubai or Bali, Modern Minimal is quiet and clean: ivory paper, one gold line and big type, like the Bengaluru sample below.

How do you pay from abroad?

• Prices are in Indian rupees and include taxes: ₹499 for the HD video and e-card, ₹999 with the invite website.
• International cards work. Where it can, the payment provider shows the amount in your local currency and charges in that currency, so you know the exact figure before you pay.
• Your own bank may add a foreign transaction fee; check with your card issuer if that matters to you.
• UPI also works if you have an Indian account set up for it. Or ask a cousin in India to pay; the invite is yours either way.
• Full refund within 7 days if you have not downloaded the HD video yet.

More on what you get for each price on the pricing page.

How do you track RSVPs across countries?

This is where the ₹999 invite website earns its keep. Guests in four countries, five WhatsApp groups and one email thread all reply on the same page, choosing the functions they will attend. You see a headcount for each function and can download every reply as a CSV spreadsheet to share with the hotel or your planner.

The RSVP covers who is coming to which function. It does not collect flight details or room preferences, so keep a simple sheet for those alongside the CSV. The page is a normal web link: it opens anywhere in the world, on any phone or computer, and is private to the people you send it to. For sending tips, see our WhatsApp wedding invitation page.

Questions people ask