Ask Slashdot: Techie Wedding Invitation Ideas? 399
Qa32 writes "I am getting married in a few months and being a hardcore techie I wanted to come up with some novel way of making my wedding invite that will truly have even my mom say, 'wow, that was cool.' Has anyone out there done anything similar, or have you thought of something similar you'd like to share? I already have a few: have QR codes, have some basic embedded circuit/plate with wire leads that maybe plays a song when you connect a battery, have a way to turn up a display LCD, etc."
circuit boards (Score:1, Interesting)
Circuit boards with the metal bits making up the text, etc, etc, for flare. That'd be awesome.
Um (Score:4, Interesting)
As long as you could respond via email or even Facebook, I'd think anything was cool. I hate sending letters or making calls.
Easter Eggs (Score:5, Interesting)
Assuming your friends and/or relatives are also into technology, why not keep the card relatively simple, but throw in an easter egg or two? Just as an example, embed a RFID chip and have it setup to react to NFC's embedded in phones. Include a subtle hint on the card, and perhaps make a puzzle out of it.
Re:Try painting cards with circuits in them (Score:5, Interesting)
[Oops! Meant to login before posting that comment. Here it is again with a 1 higher score ;-)]
Take a look at these guys:
http://www.bareconductive.com/ [bareconductive.com]
They make conductive gloopy black paint that you can use both to paint circuit boards and to cold solder components into them. I met a couple of the people behind the company at a trade show a couple of weeks back and bought a pot (no other connection to company). It's very clever stuff and they have a load of tutorials and examples on the site.
Tend to agree (Score:5, Interesting)
You could also have some things at the reception that are triggered off by sensing the NFC chip - again, entertain the younger generation without worrying the older one.
Or, you know - you could just have an absolutely straight wedding with no techno toys at all. A friend of ours got married recently and had a cartoonist to make sketches during the wedding and the reception. The resulting sketchbook was far more popular (and memorable) than the photos or the video.
QR roll (Score:5, Interesting)
Talking greeting card hack (Score:4, Interesting)
Just hack one of those talking greeting / birthday cards. Yank the electronics and put them in your own card. I know there are cards that let you record exactly what you want on them, but they're a bit more expensive than the others. You could even personalize each voice invitation to match the person being invited.
It's different enough to be geeky and novel, but not so far-left-geeky that it'll have everyone wondering if they need to show up to your wedding in cosplay garb.
How about just making a quality wedding? (Score:4, Interesting)
Cut the dorky gadgetry, would be my advice.
If I need a computer built, then electronic skills are required.
If I need a good and memorable wedding held, good event-organisation skills are required.
Both are two entirely different things - keep that in mind.
Here's a suggestion from the top of my head:
1) Print your invitation and thank-you cards with a professional printer (online printing service) and have a professional avantgarde designer to the layout and print production. Take the best quality paper + UV laquer + maybe even embossing and/or special colors. It will be a tad more expensive - two printruns of 250 items each come at roughly 200$ just for the cards, add photography and layout + print-production and you'll come out at about 600$ total - *BUT* you *will* leave a lasting impession with everybody invited. ... Ask the media-designer to make invitation and thank-you cards that people will like to keep and frame. Give him a chance to go creative as he whishes. he'll be cheaper and will put in some extra effort just for the fun of it.
2) More is less. Don't go into a huge debt over the wedding. And think if a lavishly dress and an expensive 'will never wear it again' tuxedo really is a must. Personally, I were to hold a wedding, I'd go for 'unusual, not to expesive, selected but very good (take your time finding the specials)' over 'generic but more expensive'.
For instance: I didn't cook until about 4 years ago and today I only know about 3 dishes, but I know them very well and given that I don't pinch when buying the ingredients, each of these dished taste very delicious if I put my mind to it and take my time. I couldn't afford a wedding organizer, but I'd make a point of cooking these dishes myself for my own wedding and add their part to a memorable experience. Sure, the ingredients would come 300€ or so and I'd probably have to borrow some cooking gear, but it would be a very special thing for all the guests - that I would be sure of.
3) Another example: Stainless Steel makes for very good wedding rings (geek factor aside). There are tons of quality steel rings out there nowadays, and they cost a fraction of the platinum/gold ones. Use the money you save on a top-notch honeymoon trip - you'll both have much more from it.
Oh, and congratulations and all the best wishes!
My 2 cents.
Re:Keep It Simple (Score:5, Interesting)
If it's a geek bride, probably not. They tend to have brains and realise that there are more important things than imagining a day of attention seeking. It's bizarre to me to place so much importance on the act of getting married before you even know who you're going to be marrying
If you fall in love with someone and want to commit the rest of your life to them, then by all means daydream about your wedding day - but it's insane to place so much emphasis on the wedding itself when you've not even met someone you want to marry. In fact it makes it more likely you'll get married just so that you can carry out your fantasy wedding.
The day itself is not important, what is important is the lifetime commitment that it signifies. If people put as much effort into keeping their marriages going as they did for the average wedding, then maybe less would end in divorce.
Wow, I'm trolling hard today.. but I can't help it when it comes to this type of groupthink.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Um (Score:5, Interesting)
Simply send out mini cds with a video invite and request a video response. Compile all the responses (positive) with the invite and make it all part of the wedding DVD. Could also be done with small thumb drives they are pretty cheap now, but if the mini cd is commercially printed it can be made more appealing.
Have tattooing equipment brought to the wedding and have each guest carve a reminder of the committing required to make a marriage last on the backs of the bride and groom ;D.
Re:circuit boards (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:circuit boards (Score:5, Interesting)