JiSun Lee's booth at this weekend's Maker Faire featured my favorite "science faire meets real life" art pieces. Lee pulled my boyfriend and I out of the crowd, pinned a white wedding veil on my head and put a bow tie on my boyfriend in record time (he didn't even have time to panic!) then led us to her interactive wedding cake. We were then instructed to push the buttons on the outside of the three-layer cake until the small bride and groom figures on the top of the cake got close enough to one another to kiss. It took us a few tries, but each try was filled with romantic geekiness. When we finally found the right buttons, the cake, which was made of plastic and all wired up, lit up and sang the traditional wedding song.

JiSun Lee created the interactive wedding cake and a more simple birthday cake with YouJeong Paik with the idea that they could increase the enjoyment of significant moments in people's lives. "I designed this cake with my baby and friend in mind," says Lee. "The birthday and wedding cakes need the user's input to turn on and blow out the LED candles. At the end of the user's experience, he or she will hear the greeting messages accompanied by music."

For a gallery of photos of the wedding and birthday cake, as well as a video of the cakes in action, read more

Instead of pushing buttons like the wedding cake, the birthday cake is a sort of building blocks game for children. When a child completes assembling the birthday cake blocks, he or she can light the LED candles and listen to the traditional "Happy Birthday" song and applause.