Hello and welcome. My name is Rina and I am the founder of SHIV: Share Heartfelt Invitations Virtually.

My concept came to life in 2020. Recently engaged, I started planning my big day abroad. I knew a destination wedding (let alone an Indian one) would not be easy to arrange but I thrive on organisation. Through research, I found very few resources dedicated to managing not only the complexity of coordination of a large number of people and events, but also no way to centrally track invitations and RSVPs for all my events. I had made progress though, picking the venue, finalising the guest list, and sending save the dates.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we had to cancel our wedding abroad and notify all guests. With so much uncertainty, we opted to have our Hindu Ceremony, Civil Ceremony, and Reception party all on the same day — and in London.

Since a UK Indian wedding is slightly more expensive and condensed to a few days instead of a week, my fiancé and I made the tough decision to limit guests and children at certain events. Crucially, I needed a digital RSVP to track, manage, and budget each event, separately. I wanted something easy to understand visually so I could quickly see who was attending what event, any dietary requirements (including allergies), drink/alcohol preferences, and optional activities (Mehndi/henna, etc).

Hence, SHIV was instinctive. At the time, however, the business was not called this. I was planning a wedding, starting a new job, and moving home simultaneously. I did not have the capacity to launch my idea, but I still wanted to help other couples to make wedding planning easier for several events.

In late 2022, I was finally ready to go ahead with development when the most tragic thing that could happen to anyone happened to us as a couple. I was six months pregnant, and we lost our son, Shiv. It has taken a lot of time, effort, courage, and self-motivation to get to where I am now. I decided to do something to honour my son. My husband and I wanted to hear Shiv’s name with moments that matter, allowing him to share in other people’s happy occasions — wherever he may be.

Working more than 20 years in the digital space (Monster, Yahoo!, professional event organisers, and many other start-ups), I have the network, knowledge, and experience to help couples. I understand how technology makes wedding planning easier and stress-free.

After nearly three years and the help of talented people around me, plus sheer determination and persistence, SHIV is live. With SHIV, I hope to help couples invite, plan, organise, and budget for their wedding events more joyfully. See real-time RSVP data and make the whole decision-making process easier.

Still with so much love to give, SHIV is the platform my husband and I view as an outlet to help couples embarking upon their beautiful new chapter in life. For us, it also keeps SHIV with us every day. Share Heartfelt Invitations Virtually and make a difference to your special occasion with SHIV.