CommCare Gets Hitched!

Like many girls, at a very young age, my sister and I made a pact that we would be each other’s maid of honor in our weddings. Sure we might end up being in our friend’s weddings, but we wanted to lock down at least one maid of honor position in our lifetime, and a sister seemed like the best bet. Unfortunately for my sister Sarah, when her then-boyfriend Andrew proposed, I was 8,000 miles away working in our India field office. So what do you do when you’re thousands of miles away, virtually useless for most wedding planning activities, but still want to pitch in? Well, if you work at Dimagi, you build an app. And that’s exactly what I did.

One thing that is so great about CommCare is its versatility. We can just as easily program a CommCare app to ask questions about prenatal care, school attendance, or, in this case, Sarah and Andrew’s favorite date night spot (hint: it’s a popular fro-yo place in Minneapolis). The purpose of this app was half guidebook half entertainment.

The first module had information about hotel, church, and wedding reception logistics. It also included a form on Twin Cities sightseeing, so out-of-towners could get a tailored list of cool things to do in Minneapolis/ St. Paul according to what sort of attractions they wanted to visit.

The second module consisted of a quiz about Sarah and Andrew, from childhood through engagement. Did you know that Andrew used to report himself as a lost child at events just because he liked talking to policemen? Did you know Sarah plugged her ears and cried at fireworks until high school? If you did, you’d be one of our top scorers on the Sarah & Andrew quiz! Guests submitted their quiz answers throughout the weekend, and at the end, we got to see how well family and friends knew the couple.

The third and final module was a place for people to submit their favorite pictures and videos of the day. The photographer was amazing, and got some awesome shots of everyone throughout the day. But we wanted a place where guests could send in their own favorite shots and memories of this joyous occasion. Needless to say, we got a lot of funny selfies!

All in all it was a fabulous day. Two wonderful people and their families were united in marriage, and—despite an overwhelming dearth of air conditioning—all the guests danced the night away. And for one lucky weekend, CommCare got to dress up and play junior maid of honor… all the while helping nearly 200 wedding guests.

Photos above and below by Alex Zoltai