Mehndi and Dholki invitation ideas that feel like the night itself

The Baraat card can be formal. The Mehndi card should sound like the Mehndi: loud, yellow, full of songs and slightly chaotic. Here is how families are making the Mehndi and Dholki invitations feel different from the rest of the week.

Colours

• Yellow and green: the classic Mehndi palette, and still the most recognisable.
• Marigold orange with deep pink: bright, great on a phone screen.
• Sage and blush: for families who want something softer and more modern.
• Keep the Baraat and Walima in a different colour, so guests can tell the functions apart at a glance.

Every Dawatnama design comes with a few colour palettes and a 'your own colours' option, so you can keep one design for the week and still give the Mehndi its own look. Jashan-e-Bahara was made with a spring Mehndi in mind.

Mehndi wording in Urdu

رسمِ حنا — ہماری صاحبزادی [دلہن کا نام] کی رسمِ حنا کے موقع پر آپ کی شرکت ہمارے لیے باعثِ مسرت ہوگی۔ ڈھولک، گیت اور مہندی آپ کے منتظر ہیں۔

Roman Urdu and English

• Roman Urdu: Hamari beti [naam] ki Mehndi ki raat aap ke baghair adhoori hai. Dholak, geet aur mehndi aap ke muntazir hain.
• English: Bring your voice and your brightest yellow. [Name]'s Mehndi is on [date] and it will not be the same without you.
• For the groom's Mehndi: The boys have been practising. Come and judge the dance at [Name]'s Mehndi on [date].

Inviting people to the Dholki only

The Dholki guest list is usually the bride's friends, cousins and a few neighbours, not the full wedding list. Printing a separate card for twenty people rarely makes sense. With private links you add the Dholki as a function on the same card and tick it only for those twenty guests. Everyone else never sees it. How it works is explained in what a private guest link is.

Music on the card

A Mehndi card with a dholak tappa playing when it opens is the one thing a printed card cannot do. On Dawatnama the song starts when the guest taps to open the card and stops when they leave. It never plays on its own, which matters when your phupho opens it in the middle of a meeting.

Practical lines to include

• Dress code: 'yellow or green, please' saves a lot of questions.
• Whether it is ladies only.
• If there is a dance or a performance, the time it starts, so people do not arrive after it.
• The venue's parking situation, especially for a home Mehndi in a narrow street.

Not sure whether the Dholki, Mehndi and Mayun should be separate functions or one evening? Read how many functions should your invitation list, then see the Mehndi cards.