NFC Enabled Invitations Cards (+ Analytics for a Sri Lankan Wedding)

Invitation cards are one of the key components of a big event. It provides a description of the event, time, venue, dress code and other important information the invitee needs to know. These are generally a one way mode of communication. The organizer hands out the invitation card to the invitees, the invitees make a note of the details and that's the end of that.

For my wedding I wanted to push the limits of wedding invitation cards in order to provide some ease for the invitees. In order to achieve this I pasted a cheap NFC tags to the back of each invitation card with a simple message to describe what it is. As some people do not prefer this, the NFC can also be embedded within the invitation card for a premium feel.

The purpose of using an NFC tag was so that I can allocate a unique identification code to each invitation and link it to a table number or any other information that is needed. Generally table numbers are not known when handing out the invitation cards. These are usually assigned closer to the day of the event and the guests can scan their invitation cards at the entrance on the day of the event and be presented with their table number(s). However, as I was working on this project as a hobby, a number uses for this presented itself.

Benefits of using the NFC tag.

• Added security - Officials at the event location can scan the invitation card to verify the identity of the invitee
• Avoid congestion & crowding - Invitee can avoid the queue to check the table numbers at the entrance
• Custom messages - Invitees can be displayed with a custom message on arrival
• Photo booth - Scanning the invitation can launch a photo-booth that can take the picture of the invitee and automatically email it to them.

Remotely Updatable Raspberry Pi based Dashboard

This article consists of instructions on how you run your python code on a stand-alone Raspberry pi connected to a screen while updating your code from your own personal computer.

For this project, my main intention is to have a dashboard that will be displayed on a large screen connected to a Raspberry Pi while all the codes can be updated using a computer that is not connected to the Raspberry Pi. My dashboard will be a Kivy app running on python. I will be using a Raspberry Pi 3 B to display the dashboard and I will use a Basic Onedrive account to synchronize the folder structure and the python code between my computer and the raspberry pi.