Dec 4, 2018 | By Cameron
When Erin Winick at MIT Technology Review began planning her wedding, she knew a traditional approach wouldn’t work with her scientific style, let alone their budget. So she went to what she knows: 3D printing. Erin designed and 3D printed as many components of the wedding as possible, including her and her bridesmaids’ bouquets, table place numbers, floral cake decorations and the cake topper, the flower girl’s necklace, and her headband.
Having owned a couple desktop 3D printers for a few years, Erin was familiar with what they could do, so her and her fiancé (also a maker) brainstormed on which wedding elements would best translate in a 3D printed format.
The bouquets consist of some 200 individually 3D printed tulips that are blue and glow-in-the-dark (let’s see real flowers do that) that took 100+ hours of printing spanning over several months. After 3D printing the tulips, Erin attached them to foam balls with craft glue. She grabbed the tulip file on Thingiverse, as well as the Lego Minifig cake toppers, so the maker community also contributed to her wedding. As a way of saying thanks and giving back, she uploaded the adorable tree-themed table numbers she designed in Solidworks, and the maple leaf she modified for her headband.
She received a loving amount of compliments on her 3D printed wedding, with many guests not realizing her headband was printed until she told them. Not only did 3D printing allow this nerd (her word, not mine) couple to express their artistic creativity and maker ingenuity, it also saved them some much needed cash that could better be spent on a honeymoon. The total cost of her bouquets was $75, compared to the $150 for a traditional bride’s bouquet plus another $50-$75 for each bridesmaids’ bouquet. Weddings can be very expensive, so finding ways to save a few hundred dollars here and there makes sense. But penny pinching doesn’t have to come with a hit to quality if you know your way around a 3D printer.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
Maybe you also like:
- UC San Diego's easy-to-use 3D bioprinting technique creates lifelike tissues from natural materials
- Genius: 100 Visions of the Future, world's first 3D book printed on space station
- Update: world's first 3D printed plastic bridge completed after 35 days
- Clemson researchers develop ceramic laser 3D printing technique for energy storage
- Dr. Adrian Bowyer demonstrates how hollow tubes make 3D prints stronger
- Youbionic adds 3D printed bionic arms to Boston Dynamics robot dog SpotMini
- MIT's RePaint uses AI and 3D printing to accurately reproduce paintings for your home
- CERAMBOT is the most affordable ceramic 3D printer to be Kickstarted
- Michigan Tech Researchers invent 3D Printable Polymer Pelletizer Chopper
- Canon developed alumina-based ceramic material for high-res 3D printing
- Cardi B wears $3,400 custom 3D printed Balenciaga coat