Decentraland Hosts First Blockchain-based Metaverse Wedding Ceremony

The Metaverse is growing. Decentraland, an Ethereum-powered decentralized 3D virtual reality platform, hosted its first-ever blockchain-based Metaverse wedding ceremony, with a Phoenix couple tying the knot with their digital identities this past weekend.

On February 05, the bride and groom, Ryan and Candice Hurley exchanged their vows in a metaverse wedding ceremony in Decentraland, featuring witnesses, Supreme Court Justice Officiant Clint Bolick, and over 2000 virtual guests.

The Arizona couple contracted Rose Law Group to legally formalize the marriage, with its founder and President, Jordan Rose, describing the event as the first-ever wedding hosted on any blockchain-based metaverse:

“Because the metaverse is still in its infancy, we have developed the legal paradigm for a legally recognized marriage.”

The contracted law group successfully developed a legal “meta-marriage framework” by incorporating a “Virtual Premarital Agreement,” which identified virtual identities of both couple and digital assets as recorded on the blockchain.

While commenting about the “Meta-marriage License,” which successfully identified, recorded, and tokenized the Phoenix couple’s virtual identities and place of marriage as non-fungible tokens (NFT), Rose explained:

“There currently is no legal framework for marriage in the metaverse, so whether or not it will be legally binding is more a question of contract.”

“Unlike the real world, the metaverse isn’t limited by physical constraints that restrict your perfect wedding. Only in the Metaverse can your wildest, most imaginative dream weddings be a reality,” stated the event description on Decentraland.

“We see the future of the metaverse as being truly decentralized and existing almost completely on the blockchain, so the future of marriage in the metaverse will not need to have a record of their marriage in the real world.”

Metaverse Wedding Still In The Pipeline

Nonetheless, the Arizona couple’s big day somewhat did not go as planned, confirming that the metaverse tech is still in its early stage before it can reliably host a Meta-wedding with all the bells and whistles of the real world. In that case, Decentraland struggled to handle the number of guests in attendance, with attendees quickly claiming their NFT gifts for only the first 20 minutes of the event.

Moreover, according to some guests, Ryan’s avatar was left at the aisle, with Candice failing to make a digital appearance to other attendees, depending on their respective server. Some saw Candice wearing a dress and a hoodie, with others seeing nothing at all.

After a short struggle to fix archaic technical issues on Decentraland, one attendee politely requested virtual guests to join Rose Law Group’s Instagram portal, where the real-world couples were sealing their vows via a Livestream.

Although Rose Law Group assured about the legality of Meta-wedding, many legal experts appear less convinced. However, according to American Marriage Ministries, individuals must appear physically in a legal wedding ceremony, not their virtual counterparts.

Furthermore, many regions across the United States do not even allow officiators to wed individuals remotely via a video conference or if a coupling member is in a separate location at the time of the ceremony.

In the real world, Mr. and Mrs. Hurley have been happily married for 14 years now after meeting on the dating portal match.com.

Although the Meta-wedding was the first of its kind, the event is certainly not the first instance of a couple immortalizing their marriage on the blockchain. In April 2021, a Californian couple tokenized their marriage “rings” as NFT during their wedding.

In 2014, the Disney World Bitcoin Conference hosted the first blockchain wedding, recording the following message on-chain, “For better or worse, ’til death do us part because the blockchain is forever.”