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So guys, imagine having a wedding where the designer dress you paid tons for is in shambles, your guests are caught scrambling for tokens even before you could exchange your vows, some guests can't even get into the venue because the hosts are struggling to keep the doors open, and your fiance appears to be a no show.
Ouch, ouch, and chocolate dip ouch, right?
Now y'all, I'm not here trying to be messy. Well, yes, I am... but listen, I've tied the knot myself and I know that the perfect wedding can be a bit of a myth because it's near impossible with all the moving parts that you have in a wedding for everything to go off without a single hitch. Maybe I'm jaded, but I'm just saying.
This is not to say that the event isn't magical at the end of it all. On the contrary, a wedding can be one of the most beautiful experiences of your life. It's meant to be. After the event, you'd likely have tons of beautiful pictures and videos and rose tinted memories. But I think that the logistics of putting together a fairytale wedding can be stressful
The good thing is though, background hitches are usually kept behind the scenes, right? Usually that's what happens in traditional events. But how does that work in the metaverse, I wonder, on blockchain, where the key selling point is that everything is recorded...
And on that note, let's talk about the Phoenix couple who embraced innovation and exchanged vows in the metaverse over the weekend.
The Meta Wedding of the Century
According to , the NFT tokenized digital identities of Phoenix couple, Ryan and Candice Hurley tied the knot at an official ceremony executed by the Rose Law Group in the metaverse this weekend. Pretty cool, right?
This is a huge first, though admittedly not the first marital contract executed on the blockchain altogether. In 2014, another couple, David Mondrus and Joyce Bayo, copped that title when they recorded their wedding agreement on blockchain at the Disney World's Bitcoin Conference in Orlando, Florida.
It's also not the first to have wedding NFTs. That title was copped last year, in April 2021, when COINBASE employees, Rebecca Rose and Peter Kacherginsky tied the knot on the Ethereum blockchain, and had tokenized NFT rings during their wedding.
But Ryan and Candice Hurley have snagged the prize as the first in the metaverse. They got the coveted chance to etch their we were here signatures before anyone could even dream of doing it, and they had a virtual crowd of high profile guests on hand to witness the event too. No one can take away from the fact that this is a milestone and an enviable one at that. Now, let's look under the hood at some the hiccups.
Challenges in the Metaverse
According to Cointelegraph, some of the issues at this event were that:
- Decentraland struggled to handle the number of the guests in attendance.
- Beyond the crowd control issues, it's reported that the bride was not visible to some guests depending on the servers they signed onto, and among those who see her, she was either wearing a dress or a hoodie.
- And then there was the issue of attendees snagging NFT tokens left and right so that 20 minutes in, there was none left over.
Vows by Livestream
Ultimately, the couple sealed their vows before their guests via an Instagram livestream. So my question there is: Does that also count as the metaverse, given the whole Meta rebrand?
Is a Metaverse wedding legal?
Seriously though, there are different schools of thought on this. This was a wedding in the US, and so, according to some American legal experts, people must present as their real selves and not digital avatars to be married. This in addition to the fact that in most states, you can't be married via a video conference. I guess that scene where the groom lifts the veil and kisses the bride to seal the deal kinda hits different in person, ya know? It's not the same thing as watching two pixelated avatars smooching. Who knows?
And listen guys, before you go off bashing the Hurleys and the legality of their marriage, stop. They're married y'all. Legally. The couple had their real world wedding 14 years ago.
Anyways, guys, moving beyond the Hurleys, what do you think about weddings in the metaverse?
I think it's super cool, I'll tell you that. I think it affords you so many new opportunities to be creative, and I am excited to see what the future can hold for this.
So yeah, there were hiccups with Decentraland event, and like a messy guest, I brought you the tea, but I do think, honestly, that this is a huge deal and just a hint of things to come.
As the metaverse continues to grow and develop, I am sure that there will be further advances, and we'd all be able to enjoy them, but at the end of it all, few people can claim that they were the first, and after their wedding event over the weekend, the Hurleys can count themselves among them.
And because I think this is just a hint of things to come and that it's early days yet for the potential of the metaverse, I think I'm gonna stock up some more on them. I believe in them, and this event aside, I believe in the Decentraland project.
Anyway guys, let me know your thoughts about this. In the meantime, I'm feeling nostalgic, so I think I'm gonna go scroll through my old wedding pictures for a bit and take a walk down memory lane. Until we meet again, please remember to be safe! Arrivederci!
