On February 6, 2022, the Rose Law Group’s Decentraland estate formalized a marriage in what was claimed to be the first ever U.S. wedding held in the metaverse.
Ryan and Candice Hurley of Phoenix, Arizona, are the first couple to be married using their metaverse digital identities.
As the first law firm in the United States’ metaverse to do so, Rose Law Group has awarded official acknowledgment of the validity of the marriage by creating a “meta-marriage framework” that includes a “Virtual Premarital Agreement.”
However, some glitches arose throughout the event. Decentraland struggled to accommodate a large number of virtual guests – all 2,000-plus of them.
About 20 minutes into the event, all of the NFT presents given to the participants were quickly claimed. There was an avatar of Ryan left in the aisle. Candice’s avatar didn’t display for some guests, while others saw a change in the bride’s outfit and color.
Tying The Knot In The Metaverse
According to Rose Law Group, a non-fungible token representing the marriage was added to the blockchain. To commemorate the event, guests received a wedding favour fashioned out of an NFT. Despite this, there has been a lot of discussion over the legitimacy of the marriage.
According to the American Marriage Ministries, “The appearances of the officiants and couple shouldn’t be distorted in a virtual online wedding. It is required that they should be able to hear and see each other through the use of video-conferencing technology.” Therefore, Metaverse marriage wouldn’t be considered legal until the law changes.
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Jordan Rose, the founder and president of the Rose Law Group, said the “metaverse is the only place where one’s perfect dream wedding becomes a reality as there are no constraints in the metaverse unlike in the real world.”
The ceremony on Decentraland failed to work, so one attendee told guests to proceed to Rose Law Group’s Instagram, where the real-life couple was exchanging their “I dos” via a livestream.
Even though Rose assured everyone that the wedding was legal, many legal experts remain skeptical. It is a legal requirement that people appear both as their real selves and their digital counterparts during a legal wedding ceremony, AMM said.
India’s First Virtual Wedding
In a related development, some 3,000 guests attended India’s first wedding reception in the metaverse, hosted by newlyweds who wanted to avoid COVID-19 restrictions on their special day.
Dinesh SP, 24, and his fiancee Janaganandhini Ramaswamy, 23, tied the knot in a traditional ceremony in the southern state of Tamil Nadu on Sunday.
However, due to the pandemic, they were only able to invite 100 guests to the wedding, so they opted to host it online.
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley analysts reportedly predict the metaverse potentially ballooning to an $8 trillion market.
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