Planning my wedding last year, I learned just how much they cost. We poured over websites, looking for the ideal wedding dress, the best klezmer band, and all of the decorations – from pretty fans to hang from trees to the thing that would hold our gift cards. I even got a suit tailor-made from a local LA shop. All of that customization adds up to cost a very pretty penny. When you think of it, it sounds like the perfect industry for 3D printing companies to get in on, if they can. And Shapeways isn’t blind to possibilities of 3D printing in the world of weddings.
To take advantage of the fortune to be reaped off of couples insane with love, Shapeways is holding a contest titled “Love in 3D”. And their contest, while all about 3D printed love, is also all about spreading 3D printed wedding possibilities on Pinterest, the go-to social media outlet for couples planning their weddings. Here’s how you enter:
- Create a Pinterest Board titled “Shapeways Wedding Board”
- Pin at least 10 wedding-themed pictures:
-Five of which must be Shapeways items
-One item should be in the style of a wedding ring you like
-Tag each pin with #ShapewaysWedding
- Fill out this Shapeways Google form, making sure to include:
-A description of why your love story is unique
-A link to your Shapeways Wedding Board on Pinterest
Winners will be determined based on the following criteria:
- Uniqueness of the love story
- Minimum of 10 tagged pins on the participant’s Shapeways Pinterest Board
- Inclusion of at least five Shapeways wedding-themed products on the Pinterest Board
- Inclusion of at least one image of a wedding ring on the Pinterest Board
- Creativity of all items
Winners of the contest will be given $1,500 in Shapeways credit to purchase some 3D printed bling for their wedding. Some suggestions from the service bureau include: “Work with a designer to make custom wedding rings, order 3D printed gifts for your guests, or even get a personalized wedding cake topper!” And, because the service bureau recently announced the ability to cast 3D printed items in gold, I, personally, lean in the direction of a customized wedding ring.
My wife and I scoured the web for the perfect rings, those circular symbols of infinity. We Googled. We Bing-ed. Hell, we even went into brick-n-mortar jewellery shops. My wife had imagined this very specific ring, with just the right art deco elements here and tiny diamonds there. Finally, we found some jewellery collectors with good taste on Etsy, but we could have saved time and, possibly, money, had we hired someone to design them in CAD and get them printed via a service bureau.
So, if you don’t want to end up like me, married happily ever after with a boring old ring hand crafted by someone in the 1940s, you have from now until June 27 at 11:59 pm EST to enter. You can start checking out Shapeways 3D Printed Wedding board to get pinspired.
Source: Shapeways
Feature Image Source: Design Rosetta on Shapeways
