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MAIC

Feb 15 2016.

Personalized And Unique Wedding Décor By MAIC

Charith De Silva and Eric Wijeratne are school friends and now business partners of ‘Maic’. The two create unique and personalized concept décor for weddings. A little tired of the average flower décor at weddings, they chose to sit down with their clients, have a chat and recreate their memories with their personal touch for their special day. Having come up with some truly exceptional décor, Charith talks to us about what they do and what they stand for at ‘Maic’.

Tell us a little about yourself.

We have been friends from grade one and we were both heavily involved with arts and crafts from college days (St. Peter's), working on props for Shakespeare and doing tents for sports meet. “Maic” was a name we came up with when we were in school, thinking if we ever start a business together it will be called Maic. It's "ma" from malla, which is what family and close friends call me and "ic" from Eric.

Eric used to study art and sculpture and I just learnt things by observing what I saw around me. Travelling has helped me a lot to be exposed to how the rest of the world does things very different to us here. It has helped me to think differently and work on our projects with an international flavour.

We used to do wedding décor and other related work for friends on a personal note, just for fun or sometimes to earn a few extra bucks. In 2003 soon after college, we did a wedding for a friend, where the theme was denim and daisies and that was our first project together. Then three years ago, when two of our friends decided to get married, they told us, "Guys, please take care of our décor and do it as if it is your wedding,” and that's how we started. Word of mouth and Facebook has really helped us show people our journey creating work that's different yet personal.

Our aim is to stay small and consistent and offer a personalized service. We want to do just a few things a month and for it to be our best work. We want to be small enough so there will be no third party representing us at any point and we want to be small enough to be able to be with our client/friends right throughout the whole process.

A Hyper Love Story

"The player" - "The Dancer" - "The Tango" & "The Fireworks". When the hyper-talented all rounder met the hyper-crazy dancer, you can say it was "love at first sight" (at least for him). When the director of "Evita" by The Workshop Players Colombo paired the two of them for their first dance - "The Tango" the story took an interesting turn and went along to create a crazy love story full of "memories". Finally, one New Year's Eve with fireworks as their backdrop ,he went down on "one-knee" and she said yes.

When a client hires you, how does it work?

We take over almost every aspect of décor, flowers and everything. In fact we work more like an ad agency...but for décor. We believe in creating stories, art and spaces for those little treasures and nuggets of memories couples have created along the way. We like to sit down with our client, somewhere quiet... sipping some wine or coffee and get chatting. We want to get to know them. We like to go through their whole journey from the start, how they met, where they met, stupid/crazy things they do together, things they love as individuals but also as a couple, their memories, their professional / educational backgrounds, what they hate etc. We take notes of everything they say and go back and do our brainstorming sessions to see what we can create with the info we have. Because no two couples are the same, we take care not to duplicate any of our concepts.

So this means, we do not have any packages or albums for them to choose from! What we aim to do is to bring out those unique elements that are special to the couple to present their adventure together to the world in its own signature way. We will take approximately two weeks to come up with a concept and create a sample for table décor and if they like the concept we take it to everything else and work on costing.

Fitness Theme

When two personal trainers decided to get married we wanted their wedding to be all about fitness. While dumbbells seemed like the first thought, it was still interesting coz it was all about them and never done before.

What influences you when coming up with the concept for the couple?

Their story influences us. What they like as individuals, as a couple and their memories.

What's your signature style?

Our signature style is an idea that's beyond just flowers. An idea that's created only for them, never to be repeated. An idea that's personal. We believe an "idea" for décor is far bigger than a bunch of flowers on the table. Flowers are just one aspect or prop in the work we do/create. Our clients are normally the non-traditional type and are often independent thinkers. Ideally we like to cater to a couple who plan the wedding themselves, with minimum involvement from parents. People who understand that an idea is beyond just a colour or a bunch of flowers. Certainly not clients who want to put up a big show for their guests or people who treat their wedding as a big showoff of wealth.

Journey

He loved cars, she loved art and they both loved travelling. Wherever they travelled, they kept their feet together and took a picture with the place in the background. They just loved to have fun, loved to be with people who are close to their hearts and have a good drink and a chat, so fuelling up was also an important part.

When should couples meet you if they want your services?

They should meet us first. The concept we come up with can flow into everything from selecting a location, to their invites. For an example the location for a fitness themed wedding can be a gym, it doesn't have to be the typical Colombo hotel.

What's the most out-of-the-box concept done by you for a wedding?

We try hard to keep everything we do "out of the box". However, a wedding we did recently where the concept was ‘Transparent’ was probably one of our personal favorites. We incorporated the whole concept using picture frames that were see through.

Mad Hatter's Tea Party

The idea of having a Mad Hatter's Tea Party was to give birth to a night full of unexpected creations. It's a bit like going down the rabbit hole; from 30 inch long candles, to a quirky "playing cards" chandelier to mulled tea cocktails served in vintage tea cups to sweet strawberry cupcakes that turn into smoked salmon and cream cheese when you bite into them, this was our way of going "mad", our way of creating magic with ideas.

Transparent

There's nothing quite as light on the eyes as a couple truly in love and still completely #transparent about themselves with each other! It's lovelier to have them share this openness with the rest of the world through wedding decor that was truly their own. MAIC created a transparent themed wedding decor for this wonderful couple using picture frames that saw through it all!

What's the most common mistake couples make when they incorporate a concept into their wedding?

Most couples feel that a wedding is all about flowers or just a colour they choose. We feel that it can be a lot more than that and it can be a lot more personal. Most weddings today have become a show off of wealth and often if you take the bride and groom out of the wedding, everything else is the same as every other wedding. Often people try to duplicate a friends's wedding décor they liked or a wedding they see on the internet or an album their regular florist will share them when they meet them. To us it’s crazy how people need everything else to be personalized but prefer to have someone elses décor on the table on their big day.