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How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

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201–210 of 233 posts

Re: How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

#201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy shit this is a startup idea! Who is in?

I'm in. We'll call it Layd.

I'm thinking http://layd.io would be an awesome title. I think the IO really gets at what we're going for.

Domain is available, who's in?

Re: How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

#202

I'm working on a check-in system for our reception using a Raspberry Pi, a RC522 reader and MIFARE RFID cards. Guests tap their card to check-in and the monitor displays their table number. I'll log their check-in time among other things. Is there a point to it? No, it's just to be fun and cool. https://github.com/joshaidan/wedding-checkin

If you're doing RFID cards I'd appeal to you to make them in the form of pin-badges that the guests can wear after 'check-in'.

I've been to many weddings over the past couple of decades and the one that was most successful in terms of breaking the ice between strangers had simple badges with ${NAME} and ${RELATIONSHIP TO COUPLE} on them. People felt very comfortable striking-up a conversation when they knew these two pieces of data, and there was less 'must remember the name' anxiety.

Re: How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

#203
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone cares about the same things you do. I used paperless post for my wedding because it was easy, free, and physical wedding invitations are not important to me or my wife in any way. Nobody complained, it took a couple hours to get everything set up the way we wanted it, and within a few days we had around a 90% response rate. Only 1 person RSVPed as no so it doesn't seem like anyone got the impression we d…

Sometimes it isn't about you, but it is about the guests themselves. My wife and I opted to do both physical + digital for our wedding and we found that the older crowd all relied on physical invites and info for things like the schedule, RSVPing, etc, while the younger crowd all used the digital alternative. To be clear, the older crowd all knows how to use FB etc, and most had smartphones, but many still appreciate…

Our older guests all figured it out and didn't complain, even the ones who aren't particularly technical. Would they have liked a physical copy? Maybe, but wedding planning was already stressful enough without having to deal with one more thing. If they wanted a keepsake we had physical programs at the actual ceremony.

Having everything digital also allowed us to send reminders and updates to everyone all at once. For us the tradeoff was absolutely worth it.

Re: How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

#204
post #105
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not everyone cares about the same things you do. I used paperless post for my wedding because it was easy, free, and physical wedding invitations are not important to me or my wife in any way. Nobody complained, it took a couple hours to get everything set up the way we wanted it, and within a few days we had around a 90% response rate. Only 1 person RSVPed as no so it doesn't seem like anyone got the impression we d…

> Nobody complained, it took a couple hours to get everything set up the way we wanted it, and within a few days we had around a 90% response rate. Only 1 person RSVPed as no so it doesn't seem like anyone got the impression we didn't care about them wow - any idea on the conversion rate? if so, how many sigma are you talking here? did you do any a/b testing for future iterations? With this level of customer focus, i…

I performed multiple rounds of A/B testing beforehand by getting engaged and unengaged multiple times. Analysis on response rates was done to find the optimal invite and I tried my best to remove any bias based on the bride and the inherent "boy who cried wolf" effect.

In the future I would like to run experiments to see how the invite affects gifts received, but I haven't yet convinced my wife to participate in that study.

Re: How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

#205

Author here. Weddings are time sinks even small ones like mine, we viewed around 20 venues for example, multiple caterers etc. Anything you can do to save time is a good thing. Handwriting invitations, making 500 paper cranes by hand all are lovely gestures but we focussed on what was important to us - food! For example saved a bunch from ditching traditional wedding invites and table favors (we did have amazing flow…

We were repeatedly told that nobody remembers the food at a wedding and not to worry about it. We insisted on a good caterer who could actually serve hot food, instead of that limp cold mush that usually ends up out of those serving trays. It was amazing food and they did an amazing job with it. And people remember it as one of the great parts of our wedding. Totally worth it.

Food, music, and making memories is the main thing I hear about. None have to be super expensive, just memorable.

Re: How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

#207
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How often do you pull those old wedding invitations out and what value do you get by holding onto them?

For things that I want to remember I take a photo and then get rid of the item. I began doing this when my kids started school and would bring home new art every day. I love that they made a portrait of me by gluing macaroni to a paper plate then covering it in glitter, but I don't necessarily want to become the caretaker of that masterpiece forever.

Jimmy shows dad his new masterpiece.

"That's great Jimmy! Now let me get my camera..."

SNAP!

"There, now we've got that memory forever. Now open the trash can and throw it away!"

I know you don't literally do this, but that's what your comment made me think and it gave me a chuckle. How long do you usually hold on to them?

Re: How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

#208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For things that I want to remember I take a photo and then get rid of the item. I began doing this when my kids started school and would bring home new art every day. I love that they made a portrait of me by gluing macaroni to a paper plate then covering it in glitter, but I don't necessarily want to become the caretaker of that masterpiece forever.

Jimmy shows dad his new masterpiece. "That's great Jimmy! Now let me get my camera..." SNAP! "There, now we've got that memory forever. Now open the trash can and throw it away!" I know you don't literally do this, but that's what your comment made me think and it gave me a chuckle. How long do you usually hold on to them?

My kids are teenagers now, so the flow of glitter and glue art has slowed considerably.

There was no rigid routine. Things would go in a pile and periodically the pile would go to the recycling bin.

Re: How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

#209

Author here. Weddings are time sinks even small ones like mine, we viewed around 20 venues for example, multiple caterers etc. Anything you can do to save time is a good thing. Handwriting invitations, making 500 paper cranes by hand all are lovely gestures but we focussed on what was important to us - food! For example saved a bunch from ditching traditional wedding invites and table favors (we did have amazing flow…

We were repeatedly told that nobody remembers the food at a wedding and not to worry about it. We insisted on a good caterer who could actually serve hot food, instead of that limp cold mush that usually ends up out of those serving trays. It was amazing food and they did an amazing job with it. And people remember it as one of the great parts of our wedding. Totally worth it.

I'd say don't try to get too exotic or fancy with the food. Just make sure it's good quality (doesn't have to be great, just good). Do that, and you'll have beaten over half of the wedding receptions I've been to.

If I can go to a local BBQ joint, spend $10 on a pulled pork sandwich and baked potato, and feel like I had a 3x tastier meal than the $40+ you spent per plate at the wedding (or whatever crazy number it is nowadays), then I think you screwed up.

And I am not a picky eater at all. There are a lot of people much much pickier than me.

When you try to get super fancy then a lot of people won't care for it, because they don't have the same palates that you do (when you average people out, they collectively have a very boring palate, it seems to me).

Re: How I Used Twilio, Python and Google to Automate My Wedding

#210
i get you did this as exercise but from efficiency point it seem like waste of time just to invite around 60 people (have i got it right if 40 accepted means acceptance around 70%), I would understand if you would have few hundred guests that it's with automating bit if you calculate your invested time compared doing it manually (send me group SMS and manually write in sheet who accepted, refused or didn't answer) you are actually losing time

i wish i had such small wedding

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