3D Printing Helped Make This Legend of Zelda Themed Wedding the Toast of Hyrule

I’ll be honest, I usually wince a little when I hear the phrase “themed wedding.” Not so much because a couple who are getting married shouldn’t be free to have whatever wedding that they want, but often themed weddings require a lot of money to do well. So if the budget isn’t in the high five or six figures it simply isn’t going to be easy to make it not look like a cosplay photoshoot. First of all, no one should have a wedding that looks cheap. And secondly for the guests who don’t really understand the theme it can feel a little awkward and uncomfortable. Weddings should be an event designed to be as much about the comfort of the guests as it is for the tastes of the couple.

But that doesn’t mean that a themed wedding, even when that theme is a video game, can’t be done well. After meeting and falling in love while in college, Wynn and Shaunty McMillin decided to try their hand at a themed wedding. They selected a Legend of Zelda theme, which could have gone really wrong really quickly. But the McMillins obviously put a of of thought and effort into making sure that their wedding was tasteful and comfortable without sacrificing the integrity of their love of The Legend of Zelda. By mixing traditional wedding decorations, a beautiful Hyrulian-like location and handmade Zelda-themed decorations, several of them 3D printed, the event looks to have had just the right mix.

Among the traditionally made crafts like the Hylian Royal Crest hanging over the couple as they took their vows and the ring box adorned with spirit stones were a couple of unexpectedly tasteful 3D printed decorations. The groom and his groomsmen sported 3D printed Hylian and Kokiri shields on their boutonnieres that were adorned with some simple flowers. They also 3D printed several Navi Fairies that sat on top of their wedding cake, and they even had LED lights in them so they would glow.

For the groom’s boutonniere they 3D printed a Hylian shield, naturally as it is the most powerful shield in the game, that was was designed by Thingiverse user Smock13. While many of the games slightly altered the look of the shield, it consistently had the Triforce and a red bird featured prominently. Shaunty noted that since the model had a slight curve to it, when she printed it out with a wood PLA material the striation actually gave it a more realistic wooden texture.

Wynn’s groomsmen had the games simpler Deku shield, made by Thingiverse user haycurt, adorning their boutonnieres. Shaunty said that she used standard settings in Simplify3d and all of the shields only took about an hour to print. She finished off the shields with a bit of gold acrylic paint to add some detail and sparkle. The shields look pretty great next to the flowers and twine that the couple’s florist put together. You can check out Shaunty’s tutorial here.

Because you can’t have a fantasy themed wedding without a little bit of magic, Wynn and Shaunty decided that they wanted to throw a few Navi fairies in the mix. In the Zelda games, Navi is a glowing little ball of light that follows Link around, offering him advice and acts as a guide on his quest. Luckily, Thingiverse user AwesomeA already made a model of Navi so there was no need to design it themselves. However to give it some extra drama Shaunty added a small LED light inside of Navi so it would glow just like its video game counterpart.

In order to fit the LED light inside of Navi, Shaunty had to resize the model slightly and adjusted the layer settings. She printed the fairy in translucent filament and assembled all of the 3D printed parts with a little bit of superglue. Once they were done the Navi found themselves sitting on top of Wynn and Shaunty’s wedding cake. Shaunty also suggested that she is going to repurpose her cake toppers into Christmas ornaments. You can check out her tutorial for the Navi cake toppers here.

The happy couple blogged about their Legend of Zelda themed wedding on their crafting blog Right Castle, and even posted tutorials of some of their more standout decoration projects. You can also buy several of their 3D printed wedding decorations over on their Etsy shop. For the sake of their nerd-cred, I certainly hope that at some point during the ring exchange portion of the wedding ceremony ceremony they said “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this” to each other. Congratulations to Wynn and Shaunty on their marriage, and great job on the 3D printed decorations!

Let’s hear your thoughts about this unique wedding in the 3D Printed Zelda Wedding forum on 3DPB.com.