Decentraland hosts their very First Metaverse Wedding
My worlds have collided. Wedding Planning and the Metaverse have finally joined hands and a wedding has been had in the Metaverse.
Photo from: Daily Avent
On April 21, 2021 a Phoenix couple married with their digital identities in one of the metaverse's first marriages.
Admittedly, anyone and everyone who has had a metaverse experience realizes the tech has a long way to go and with that, the Arizona couple's wedding didn't go exactly as planned.
The wedding ceremony was held in Decentraland complete with witnesses, Supreme Court Justice officiant, Clint Bolick, and a virtual crowd of 2,000 guests.
Ryan and Candice Hurley, the bride and groom, hired Rose Law Group to legally formalize their marriage. Jordan Rose, the group's founder and president, claims it was the first wedding ever held on any blockchain-based metaverse.
“Because the metaverse is still in its infancy, we have developed the legal paradigm for a legally recognized marriage,” she told Cointelegraph.
Rose Law Group's estate on Decentraland hosted the wedding ceremony. The law firm created a "meta-marriage framework" that included a "Virtual Premarital Agreement" that identified the couple's virtual identities and digital assets as they were recorded on the blockchain.
Meanwhile, as a nonfungible token, a "Meta-Marriage License" identified, recorded, and tokenized the couple's virtual identities and place of marriage on the blockchain (NFT). Rose elaborated:
“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 wedding be a reality,” stated the event description on Decentraland. Rose added:
“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.”
Despite the fact that the couple appeared to envision a wedding of the future, they were met with some rather archaic technical issues. The number of guests in attendance proved too much for Decentraland, and the NFT gifts for attendees were quickly claimed only about 20 minutes into the event.
Furthermore, Ryan's avatar was left at the aisle when Candice's avatar failed to appear digitally — but only for some guests. The bride was wearing a dress, a hoodie, or wasn't there at all, depending on which server attendees had been divided into.
Despite Rose's assurances about the wedding's legality, it appears that many legal experts are still skeptical. According to the American Marriage Ministries, during a legal wedding ceremony, people must appear as their real-life selves, not as their digital counterparts.
Furthermore, most states in the United States do not permit a couple to be married by an officiant remotely via video conference or if the couple is in different locations at the time of the ceremony.
After having trouble getting the ceremony to work on Decentraland, one attendee directed the guests to Rose Law Group's Instagram, where the real-world couple was sealing their vows via a livestream.
Luckily, the Hurleys married in the "real world" 14 years prior.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The wedding took place on Rose Law Group's estate in the metaverse of Decentraland. The law firm created a "meta-marriage framework" by including a "Virtual Premarital Agreement" that identified the couple's virtual identities and digital assets as they were recorded on the blockchain.
As an NFT, a "Meta-Marriage License" identified, recorded, and tokenized the couple's virtual identities and place of marriage. "There is currently no legal framework for marriages in the Metaverse," Jordan Rose explained, "so whether or not it will be legally binding is more a question of contract."
We see the future of the metaverse as truly decentralized and almost entirely based on blockchain, so future marriages in the metaverse will not require a record of their marriage in the real world."
Despite the fact that this is a fantastic innovation and use of blockchain technology, the event was not without its challenges. There were some technical difficulties at the wedding. Decentraland, for example, struggled to accommodate the large number of guests in attendance.
Despite Rose's assurances about the wedding's legality, it appears that many legal experts are still skeptical. According to the American Marriage Ministries, during a legal wedding ceremony, people must appear as their real-life selves, not as their digital counterparts.
Despite Rose Law Group's involvement, there has been some debate about the legality of the wedding. All states that allow virtual online weddings, according to the American Marriage Ministries (AMM), require officiants and couples to use video-conferencing technology that allows them to see and hear each other in real time, without anything that distorts their appearance. As a result, until the law changes, Metaverse weddings will not be legally binding.
Although the wedding is a first in many ways, it is far from the only instance of a couple wanting to marry on the blockchain. A California couple who work at crypto exchange Coinbase wrote an Ethereum smart contract in April 2021 to issue tokenized "rings" as NFTs during their wedding.
The first blockchain wedding was held in 2014 at the Disney World Bitcoin Conference, with the following message recorded on-chain: "for better or worse, 'til death do us part because the blockchain is forever."