Every little girl has dreamed of her fairytale wedding; from picking out the perfect dress to securing the perfect venue, and possibly a semi-important part: finding the perfect partner. It’s been spoon-fed to us since childhood from watching rom-coms like Bride Wars and seeing our favourite celebs grace the cover of bridal magazines. So when you’ve finally found your perfect match, and are ready to walk down that aisle towards the man of your dreams, would you switch your pretty peony bouquet for a digital one? Would you swap that mesmerising Elie Saab couture gown for a NFT version? And would you rather have an avatar computer-generated version of you read your vows than read them in real-life?
With the world quickly adapting to the creation of the metaverse, everything from fashion shows to events and parties are transferring to the digital world; and it seems as though weddings are the latest trend in the metaverse. Last year, Dave and Traci Gagnon held a wedding ceremony in the metaverse shortly after they said ‘I do’ in real-life. Avatar versions of themselves, along with a ring-bearer and a flower-girl, walked down the aisle of an algorithm-generated wedding. And more recently, a couple from India, Dinesh S P and Janaganandhini Ramaswamy, announced that they will be hosting their wedding in the metaverse, making it ‘India’s first metaverse wedding.’
Dinesh, the groom, took to Twitter to show a snippet of what his wedding would look like.
I feel so proud and blessed that I have seen and taken advantage of many great opportunities in this world before millions of people have seen them, Beginning of something big! India’s first #metaverse marriage in Polygon blockchain collaborated with TardiVerse Metaverse startup. pic.twitter.com/jTivLSwjV4
— Dinesh Kshatriyan 💜 (@kshatriyan2811) January 11, 2022
Possibly coming as a shock to most women who dream of a real-life wedding, his fiancé, Janaganandhini, was “thrilled” with the idea of hosting her wedding virtually, considering the couple had met virtually, “It’s apt in a way as we met on Instagram and will be having our wedding reception on Meta,” she said according to NDTV. The theme of the digital ceremony will be Harry Potter, as the couple declare themselves as mega-fans.
Whilst some of us may still not comprehend or ever adapt to the digital changes our world is facing, the couple’s wedding reception, which is set to be held on the 6th of February after a real-life ceremony, seems to be as close to an average ‘normal’ wedding as ever; with guests attending to celebrate the happy couple, and even gifting them as you would in a conventional ceremony. “We are accepting marriage gifts via Metaverse. Guests can transfer gift vouchers, or Google Pay, and we are also accepting cryptos as gift,” says Dinesh.
Although this may inspire more virtual weddings in the future, it’s fair to say that we’re still suckers for a typical and ordinary good-old fashioned real-life wedding, where we’ll be able to feel just how suffocating our couture gown is, clenching into our waists and dance the night away in our ridiculously painful but glamorous Manolo Blahniks.
