Life

How To 3D Print Your Own Wedding Toppers

by Kaitlyn Wylde

New and welcome to the wedding industry is a quirky company called Marry-Mees, which makes 3D-printed wedding toppers. Because in this $300 billion industry, there's always room for innovative concepts and vendors. Cake toppers are probably one of the last touches that brides are concerned with making on their wedding days — they're technically and completely unnecessary. And yet it's a special touch and a forever favor. But more and more brides are opting for bare and basic cakes, eliminating the need or space for a topper — it's no longer an expected accoutrement on the cake. But if you want a taste of that traditional cake, you might want to consider soliciting the personalized help of Marry-Mees, a product that marries the convention of marriage with the techno-innovation of mechanics. A match made in 2016, to be sure.

If you're considering getting some of your own or are interested in gifting a set to a couple, first, you'll have to get some snaps together. You'll need two different pictures of the bride and groom, or groom and groom, or bride and bride, against a white background — one head on, one to the side. Then you'll need to send in these pictures to the company. It is at this point that they will upload the images to their software and send directions to their hardware (3D printer) to create a mini plastic model of your relationship.

You might opt for a traditional embrace, or you're feeling wild, you might consider something a little bit out of the box — if humor is more your style than romance. After all, the cake might get devoured but these plastic counterparts are yours forever, so make sure you get chose what you can live with.

These days it seems like wedding trends tip both toward the extreme traditional and extreme modern. Brides are having more fun with their weddings, taking tips from history and risks with creativity. But the one thing that's consistent with both trends is a sense of personalization. Couples want to feel like their wedding was not picked from a catalog. They want evidence of their relationship to be sprinkled throughout the day. They want their guests to feel like they have front row seats to the nucleus of their love. But it's hard to personalize an event that's been so generalized over time. While maybe silly and maybe too futuristic, Marry-Mees are definitely about as personal as you can get. There's no better way to break the mold than to make a mold of yourself.

If you're interested, you'll have to break the bank and be patient— these figurines weigh in at $238 and take about a month to manufacture. But hey, you (hopefully) only get married once, right?

Images: Marry-Mees