How We Built an
AI Startup in 48 Hours

Wedding apps today are glorified catalogs. Scroll through locations. Check boxes. Maybe get a to-do list. It's 2026 and the experience hasn't caught up to what AI makes possible.

We didn't want to build another Airbnb-style selector. We wanted something fundamentally different: What if planning your wedding felt like talking to the most knowledgeable wedding planner in the world?

Not one long chat conversation. Something smarter. You talk to the AI about your dream wedding — your style, your vibe, the food, the ceremony, the flowers — and behind the scenes, it builds what we call a wedding spec. A structured document that captures every detail, organized into categories: location, ceremony, menu, decoration, music. Every conversation updates the spec. Every preference remembered.

But here's where it gets interesting. The chat alone wouldn't have been magical. People already know ChatGPT. What if the AI could also show you your dream wedding?

That was the product vision that made Bridesmaid different. You describe your ideal wedding through conversation. The spec updates silently in the background. Then you say “Can you visualize this for me?” — and an AI-generated image appears, matching everything you've described. The flowers, the lighting, the table setting, the venue style. All of it.

And when something's off? “Those aren't the right flowers on the table. The lighting is too cold.” Your feedback goes back into the spec, and a new visualization emerges. A continuous loop of conversation and creation.

When Christina saw the first visualization of our dream wedding, she was astonished. Not because the technology was impressive — because for the first time, something she had in her head was real and visible. That's when it stopped being my tech project and became our product.

I've been watching the AI development space for a year. Not randomly — tracking how specific frameworks evolved and what philosophy drove them. When it was time to build Bridesmaid, every product need mapped to a tech choice I'd already been studying.

Hi, this is Christina.

I have a psychology background. I'm intuitive, creative — the opposite of Ben's analytical mind. Getting into this whole world of building software wasn't natural for me at all. But people can tell you things all day long — you have to experience them yourself. And that I did.

At the hackathon, we were both vibe coding — I focused more on the design side, shaping how the product looks and feels. I know exactly what future brides need because I am one. Every feature, every interaction, every screen — I built and tested it as the target user. We kept switching screens, giving each other feedback, shaping the product together. All those weeks of frustration with existing apps? That became our blueprint.

Then Ben showed me the first AI-generated visualization of our dream wedding and I was astonished. For the first time, something I had only in my head was real and visible. That's when it stopped being his tech project and became our product.

I know I'm just at the beginning. But I already learned so much that I wouldn't want to change anything about this journey. Going from someone who spent weeks searching for the right app to someone who's actually building it — that feeling is so freeing. And it's not just for me. I want to help other brides have the tool I wish I'd had from day one.

What I'd build next? The feature that started it all — AI-powered venue matching. After weeks of searching, I eventually found my perfect venue — a villa where you can bring your own people, your own food, your own everything. It took me forever to find it. Now imagine describing your dream venue in the app and it just shows you the places that match. The ultimate test for me? I'll describe exactly what I was looking for and see if the app finds that villa on its own.