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The offbeat groom: Bill, Electrical Engineer
His offbeat partner: Mara, Electrical Engineer
Date and location of wedding: Fort Lauderdale Yacht Club, Florida — March 10, 2013
Our offbeat wedding at a glance: I proposed to Mara by hiding the message on a printed circuit board that she designed. Then we built on that theme to apply our trade and passion to our wedding: electronics! We made electronic wedding invitations with secret Morse code messages, and we designed centerpieces that were 3D printed at home. We even had a circuit ceremony involving a soldering iron.
For the invitations, we used a solid ink printer to make flexible circuit boards at home, and added circuits and some LEDs for a sparkling effect. You can see the details on the assembly here.
Our centerpieces were similarly created with 3D printing techniques and a silhouette cutter.
We added some light and sound effects to our wishing well, too. Combining an Arduino, an inexpensive music player, an PWM shield, and a 3D-printed latch, the well puts on a quick show every time a wish is deposited. See it here:
Our outfits also involved meters of wire, LEDs, and batteries. I used a friend's suit since I'd be customizing it way too much for a rental, and Mara designed her own dress to customize. [Reminds us a little of this! – Ed.] The e-textiles had lots of lights and electroluminescent wires.
If you want the real nitty gritty for assembly, I wrote a whole post about it!
Tell us about the ceremony: When it came time for me and Mara to draft the ceremony, we pondered how we could incorporate an element from our theme. We had only four days to go and only some vague ideas. Mara bought some wood letters to spell out “I DO,” and wanted to use them somehow. We also joked about using a soldering iron during the ceremony. Then it hit us: we could symbolize our connection by soldering iron together to complete an electrical connection.
The circuit boards that asked “Mara Will You Marry Me?” were repurposed to light up the “I DO” letters. During the ceremony, the final connection was made to make it all come together. Here is the video of the circuit ceremony:
My favorite moment: Our circuit ceremony turned out to be really fun, and one of the easier projects, surprisingly. Other details we loved included our hand-painted aisle runner, the electroluminescent wire bouquets that Mara schemed with our florist, and my mother and Mara's jewelry creations with resistor and circuit board elements from old print cartridges.
Care to share a few vendor/shopping links?
- Flowers: Victoria Park Flowers
- Photography: George Street Photography
- Venue: Fort Lauderdale Yacht Club
Enough talk — show me the wedding inspo!
About the Author: Offbeat Weditors
Working tirelessly to bring you stimulating content day after day, the Offbeat Wed editors will not sleep until you've gotten your offbeat fix.
WOW very cool wedding!! It is very different and the decorations came out great!! I really love that cake and the girls bouquets too!! Congratulations!!
Wow!!! I love this! You incorporated your theme into everything beautifully- and what an awesome theme it is!!!
This is truly the most amazingly cool, super geeky but all around beautiful weddings I have ever seen! What an amazing concept you ran with, and so elegantly executed throughout!! I am so in love with all of the elements of this wedding!!!! Congrats to you both on your new life! <3
I think my father would prefer you as a son-in-law. 😉
Amazing work – all of it. And love the soldering “unity” ceremony!
I was so stunned by the fabulous electronics that I almost missed the bilingual signs and program. Love it.
That. is. SO. BADASS!!!
Totally saw this on Passive Aggressive Notes (they got some creepy-ass hate mail after the wedding: http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/2013/03/26/trolling/) and I’m so glad to get all the details here. Beautiful wedding!
Those bouquets are so freaking awesome! Love this, all of it!
I read the blog and tha was so nasty that someone sent you that horrid letter. There was nothing pretentious about your wedding. It was just both yourselves doing what you know well how to do. The world needs more people like you Bill and Mara and I mean this from the bottom of my heart! I love your invitations and wish that I knew you so that I could have gotten one of them, I digress.
In the end, you had the most beautiful wedding even on here and I wish you the best ever in life because you both seem so happy and creative as anything. I couldn’t even breath when I saw your wedding featured, so amazing.
Good luck hons and the guy who sent you that letter should be….add what you want here.
All I can say have a great married life and hugz from Sid in Toronto
Love everything about this guys – you have taken your passions and made the wedding uniquely you. And talk about talented! Totally inspiring xx
Very very cool.
I love it.
wow!!!!! wonderfulllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
we are both electrician.just like you!
i really loved it
be happy for ever
OMG! This is so cool..It’s the perfect combination of flowers and technology. A very creative and unique idea and I love it.