Making weddings personal again
Charith De Silva and Eric Wijeratne. Pix courtesy Concepts by MAIC
Weddings are a big deal and undoubtedly a joyous occasion, however, take the bride and groom out of the scene and one can’t shake-off the feeling of familiarity. Celebrating nuptial vows has become a fairly standard affair.
For Charith De Silva and Eric Wijeratne event décor is about “personalisation,” but that wouldn’t fully describe what their brand, ‘Concepts by MAIC’ has executed for the past three years.
Tastefully intricate picture frames have towered over wedding guests at one of their more memorable assignments. Serving as the main centre-piece, the completely empty frames were in celebration of transparency that the couple shared.
“It was a fun experience,” Charith laughs, to see guests covertly poke the centre piece, not sure if their slowly approaching finger would meet a mirror in the frame.
“You wouldn’t expect it” Eric adds, “but even the older crowds,” felt compelled to snap a few pictures, posing with their intriguing prop.
Yet another highlight for the team, recorded on their Instagram page among many other elegantly detailed pieces of décor, “was called journey.”
When two travel-loving vintage car fanatics decided to tie the knot, MAIC’s décor embodied gold vintage cars for vases and table runners resembling roads.
“People tell us we go into too much detail,” Charith shares, but it rarely matters even if the finer points go un-noticed. Executing arrestingly large pieces are not this pair’s main objective.
“We work almost like an ad agency for décor,” Charith who has been in the advertising industry for over 10 years tells us.
Building props, and set-design was a big part of his school life at St. Peter’s College, during which time he was sure he wanted to work in advertising. Around 12 years after, he lived out his school-time ambition, “I find this more rewarding,” he says of his new full-time occupation.
A general lack of professionalism among on call electricians and carpenters together with the devotion to detail leave the two opting to take on no-more than “four weddings a month.”
MAIC’s concepts are slightly more popular among “couples who are planning their weddings alone,” with minimal parental influence they’ve noticed.
Not ones to churn-out cookie cutter wedding décor, “we’ve had people come-in with pictures of another wedding, wanting the same thing.”
Digging-in to their clients’ stories, pointedly more so for weddings, they inevitably score friends by the time their assignment draws to a close. Before brain-storming, couples go through an extensive round of questions at the first consultation.
“We’ve been told it’s like therapy sometimes,” to re-visit the past which can quite easily slip the mind in the hustle of planning a wedding.
A prominent question for couples on MAIC’s figurative ‘couch’ is how they met, which in some cases haven’t yielded much. “I’m sure they don’t know how they met,” Eric laughs.
The process of getting to know their clients has been too intrusive for some, more traditional brides and grooms. It perhaps doesn’t help their cause that the idea of relinquishing artistic freedom over their big day to two male décor artists isn’t one most Lankans are comfortable with.
“It’s been difficult” Eric shares, but “we get them to go-through our work,” to help them grasp what’s potentially in store.
Initial awkwardness wears off and eventually “We get invited to the weddings,” for which many hours of fine-tuning details are spent. The ultimate honour, however, is when on a number of occasions “we have been thanked in their speeches.”
Dabbling in the events industry was limited to “just a few weddings for friends.” Charith was doing the same with the few events he threw together.
It only seemed natural to turn their efforts into a joint enterprise since they already had a name for it. Charith alias “Malla at home” and Eric have been friends “since grade one,” incidentally deciding in school that if they ever started a business it would be called “MAIC.”
Eric still works in advertising, resorting to MAIC duties in his time off, reserved strictly for “the more business side” of MAIC’s operations.
Admittedly he does occasionally throw around some concepts in the hopes that “Charith will polish it up.” There’s little time to wait around for inspiration to strike they share, and most brainstorming happens on the go, “we’ll be driving, or just catching an art exhibition,” to take stock of possible ideas when a seed will sprout open in one of their minds.
Pioneering the changing tides, the days when a wedding concept was limited to colour scheme, flower type and anagrams are long gone they feel. However, “You can still have your picture-perfect Pinterest wedding- be it vintage themed or rustic themed,” but there’s always room for personalisation the duo agree.
To contact the team or for more information log onto https://m.facebook.com/decorbymaic/
