Wedding Tech and DIYs
By: Sofía Galán
Tags: Weddings, 3D Printing, Rapid Prototyping, Apps

I thought about building an app for my guests. Somewhere I can provide basic information of the event, the weather as well as some other features during the event I had in mind. It didn’t go as smoothly as I would like it to be but it served its purpose. I tested the idea and found a couple of helpful insights.

If you know me, you probably know I had to use Thunkable to build the app. However, I’ve recently made a career change to become a software developer so I made a hybrid. I made a custom API for the app and left the design to Thunkable. I also tackled some of the problems I encountered in Thunkable with an API of my own where guests could upload bulk photos from their photo gallery, currently a feature not available for web apps in Thunkable.

While having all the information in one place was convenient, I overestimated the use during the event. People don’t want to be on their phones especially since we are having a great time. So… wedding activities should be off the phone. It was great for getting people hyped up and giving information about the event. But just that.

In the future, I plan to incorporate an interactive way to get my guests to their table through the app. Still thinking about this one… sort of like an apple air tag but make it web.

Also, at some point, I got tired of using Thunkable but not because is not great… I became tired of dragging code when I just wanted to type it, you know? I think I’ve outgrown it for my personal prototypes. I still think it’s a great educational tool and personally, I love the community. So for my next prototype, it will be all code, which I’m excited about.

3D Print Jewelry

When I was planning how I was going to look for the day I came across hairpieces and there are really two options. The one that looks that came from a Spirit Halloween Store and the one is almost as expensive as the wedding dress. There is no in-between and I’ve seen how brides often re-sale their hairpieces because they are insanely expensive for a couple of hours and photos. Being a businesswoman is not my forte... but I can make ^almost anything.

So I took one of those spirit store headpieces and planned on substituting the big stones that screamed I’m fake with small pretty metal pieces. A simple design that fitted the look and feel of the wedding. I modeled a basic sample using 3D software and printed it on high-detailed white resin and gave it a couple of gold spray paint. Voilá I had a prototype, however, I had to go back and adjust the design a bit. After a couple of iterations, I had the perfect headpiece for me.

It’s still painted resin, I got a quote on how much it would have cost if it was all brass… now I understand why the fancy headpieces cost as much as a wedding dress. But I decided to give it a go with 3D printing metal, which is not entirely 3d printed, they make a mold out of a wax 3d printed figure. But still wanted to test it out. Loved the outcome. I’m considering designing my jewelry from now on, maybe the wedding bands for the big wedding. The possibilities are endless.

Laser engraved placeholders and later guest gifts

Well, I browsed for hours through Pinterest and Etsy looking for the best placeholders that would fit everything I’ve done for the wedding. I resorted to what I know best, laser cutting. I taught little kids how to do laser cut projects for several years and I even made a huge installation in San Miguel de Allende. So I made a laser-cut placeholder and conveniently enough they also become our little gifts for our guests.

And that’s it, these were my little DIY projects for my wedding. I’m looking forward to making more for the next event ✨.