How can I incorporate electronics into our wedding and give each guest something cool to take home?

October 8, 2007 10:44 AM

My fiancée and I are getting married in about a year, and being an electrical engineer, I thought it would be fun to incorporate some sort of electronics into our wedding. What I would really love to do is design something small and simple that every guest could take home. Help me design it!

It needs to be something that a non-technical person could look at think is cool (meaning it can't be something like a little chip programmer that only a technical person could appreciate).

I'm thinking something involving some blinking LED's, but nothing too obnoxious since all 200 guests might have theirs turned on all night.

I also might want it to be customized for every guest (possibly a scrolling LCD with their name for their place card?). Yes I know I'll have to program 200 separate firmwares, but that could easily be accomplished on a rainy day.

As for cost, I've set aside $2000 for this. This means that I can spend $10 per person since there will be 200 guests. I'll be able to get the circuit boards for about $1-3 a piece, so that leaves me with around $7-9 for parts.

So if you were to show up at my wedding and receive a little circuit board that does something, what would it do that would make you go, "COOL!”?

posted by niwnfyc to Technology (18 answers total)

The idea of a scrolling nameplate is great I think. My cousin did something faintly similar to this in a non-wedding context, and just created a circle of LEDs where the light 'ran around the circle through lighting each one in turn. Not sure if this meets the obnoxiousness criterion though, but everyone who got one was quite impressed. Each device was in a small plastic case.

If you made one more complex device instead, you could create a large scrolling 'screen' where people could enter messages to you and your new wife in some way.
posted by StephenF at 10:56 AM on October 8, 2007

Just be mindful of letting your out-of-town guests know how these party favors might affect their travel plans...
posted by hermitosis at 10:57 AM on October 8, 2007

Not sure if the cost fits (I would think so if you were buying 200 of each part required) but I think something like this POV device would be awesome. You could even make it say something like "Thanks for coming to our wedding!" or whatever. Perhaps don't leave any instructions and have people figure out what it is on their own and watch as the reception lightens up when everyone finds out they can move their devices across the air and read a message from you both. I'm not sure if that's obnoxious or not but it would certainly be fun.
posted by genial at 10:59 AM on October 8, 2007

If you want something really simple, how about some LED throwies? They can be produced for about a dollar per. If you had metal candlesticks, or metal flower arrangement holder things, you could stick the throwies to the metal and create a neat little glow that guests can take with them.
posted by Verdandi at 11:04 AM on October 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

I always thought these "LED Throwies" [warning: embedded quicktime] looked nice. Super simple construction, super cheap, and with the right surfaces available, they could be a blast at night. Give 5-10 to each guest. Make sure you make them with a pull-tab to activate, so that you can make them ahead of time.
posted by SemiSophos at 11:10 AM on October 8, 2007 [1 favorite]

I should really hit preview more often....
posted by SemiSophos at 11:11 AM on October 8, 2007

You could do something clever with resistors. Maybe represent the date of the wedding w/ the ohm value?
posted by smackfu at 11:29 AM on October 8, 2007

A POV device would be very cool. Ditto with the scrolling LEDs.

Maybe a small fm receiver? And a local micro transmitter broadcasting something to them? Not real useful after the reception though.

Some kind of "key finder" device in pairs? aka, two small devices that when you press a button, makes the other beep or buzz? Make them heart shaped if you want to be cute.

Something simple would be a USB key with digital pics/videos of the couple on it. Granted, you wouldn't be building that, but I think it would get the point across.
posted by alikins at 11:44 AM on October 8, 2007

Oh, something non functional that could be cool: design an approriate drawing/pattern, then get PCB's created with the design.
posted by alikins at 11:45 AM on October 8, 2007

i love the scrolling namecard idea. can you put magnets on the back so guests can put them on their fridges or filing cabinets later?
posted by thinkingwoman at 11:45 AM on October 8, 2007

Sorry, perhaps this isn't very helpful, but I keep thinking of the Vicar of Dibley episode in which Alice marries Hugo wearing a dress and headpiece that flashed "I love Hugo."

Of course, her bridesmaids were dressed as teletubbies and the processional was "Wild Thing," but it's still an awesome idea. And hilarious for your guests, as well.
posted by buka at 11:58 AM on October 8, 2007

Here's an MP3 player that you could make for $30 in parts- you could load them up with a thank you for coming note and a wedding music mix.

Maybe too much to give to each guest, but maybe you can give one to each couple-


http://www.teuthis.com/html/mmc_mp3.html
posted by jenkinsEar at 1:25 PM on October 8, 2007

I like the place holder idea too, particularly with a magnet attached.

We once went to a Christmas in the park thing where a computer firm had helped organise it. At the end of the night we all released helium balloons with a little LCD light inside. They looked very pretty drifting off into the night sky. I don't know that this is very environmentally friendly but similar balloons, maybe in a pearly white coloured rubber with either white or simple coloured LCDs, could make a geeky but stylish decoration for your wedding. Guests could certainly take one home.
posted by shelleycat at 2:35 PM on October 8, 2007

I'll be able to get the circuit boards for about $1-3 a piece

What do you mean by this? Are you thinking of using solderless breadboards?

It will be very hard to hold to a $10 budget, but I guess it is possible (I've got a lot of surface mount 12f629s that I could pass along for cheap..).

Based on an old AskMe, I did some work on using LEDs as display and sensor at the same time. My idea is to make a two colour 8x8 LED array into a mini tic-tac-toe game, but I haven't done any more work in that direction for a long time (I can get surplus 8x8 LED arrays pretty cheap too, if you don't mind desoldering - 200 might be tough though). In general, there are tones of other ways you could make use of bi-directional LEDs to make an interesting device that is still very inexpensive.

You could get some collective game playing going.. Give everyone an IR transmitter with yes/no or 1/2/3/4/5 buttons, and then ask some questions:

How long until the first baby?

1. 1 year
2. 2 years
3. 3 years
4. Don't go there
5. It's a shotgun wedding

I've also heard of massed video games, where the actions of many people are combined to create the game input (maybe it was pong?!?).
posted by Chuckles at 3:24 PM on October 8, 2007

if it's gonna be individually programmed, maybe something useful, like:

a DIRTY / CLEAN scroller for the dishwasher,
a DOG scroller for the dog's collar so cars can see him at night?
a BIKE scroller for cyclist pals?
WIFI for a cafe owner?
a DON'T FORGET magnet for the fridge?

or something not useful, like a badge with a funny word:
GEEK
LINUX
BABY
MAMA
PIMP
GRANDMA
{insert inside joke here}
posted by twistofrhyme at 4:11 PM on October 8, 2007

If you want a really easy time of it, you can get those scrolling LED name badges / beltbuckles off ebay pretty cheaply. Do a search for something like "scrolling led" and they're all around $10.
posted by todbot at 4:55 PM on October 8, 2007

Something useful like this: a universal remote control device that turns off TVs. Guaranteed for use well beyond the wedding.
posted by flutable at 2:41 AM on October 9, 2007

Could you use it for the placecards as you suggest, so they can take them away, but also have some connection between them all so you could put other messages on all of them? They could all change at the same time etc and add to any mood lighting effects in the room. Or you could make them totally reprogramable by adding two or three buttons (select letter, next space, set)

Good luck and Congrats!
posted by kg at 12:00 PM on October 9, 2007