METAVERSE | TECHNOLOGY | MARRIAGE

Asia’s First Metaverse Wedding Reception: This Indian Couple Got Married in Metaverse

Hell, how cool is that!

I randomly came across this news in the end of January from one of the articles of CNN: “My big fat digital wedding: Couple plan India’s first metaverse marriage.”

And I was like, okay, that’s good. Maybe I wasn’t in a good mood. It failed to hold my attention and didn’t made me curious enough to click and open the article.

But yesterday I read an article from New York Post: “Couple married as avatars in virtual wedding — with bride’s late father as guest.” And I was like, “Is this the same wedding that I’d read of previously?”

When it turned out to be a yes, I immediately got fascinated about this topic. Here’s everything you need to know about this ‘epic metaverse wedding.’

“Because of the pandemic, a physical, real kind of reception is not possible with the huge number of people attending,” said Dinesh Padmavathi (groom), “So, we decided: let's make it in the metaverse.”

Amidst pandemic, this tech enthusiastic couple from Tamil Nadu, India decided to tie knots in a special way. And pandemic became the perfect reason to not miss it—a wedding in metaverse.

Recently, Dinesh Sivakumar Padmavathi (groom), 25, and Janaganandhini Ramaswamy (bride), 24, got married and hosted their reception in the metaverse which was attended by more than 6,000 people worldwide.

As cool as it sounds, it also took a month of planning on the back-end.

The legal wedding ceremony took place physically in front of close friends and relatives in Ramaswamy’s (bride) village in Tamil Nadu’s Krishnagiri district, about 170 miles from Chennai.

But afterwards, the couple logged on to join their reception, which costed 150,000 Indian rupees (~$2,000) to design, develop and host. The one-hour long event saw the newlyweds virtually address their guests, who were able to explore the castle and customize their avatars' appearance and outfit.

Being Potterheads themselves, the theme of their marriage reception was set to Hogwarts and other elements from Harry Potter. (Omg! This is so romantic and fun and nostalgic!!!)

They worked with a startup called TardiVerse to make this all possible. Huge applause to the creative efforts of Dinesh (groom) and to the technical efforts of Vignesh Selvaraj (CEO, TardiVerse) and team.

“I have been into crypto and blockchain technology, and since blockchain is the basic technology of the metaverse, when my marriage was fixed, I thought of having a reception in the metaverse,” said 25-year-old groom Dinesh.

There is also one very interesting thing that happened in the February 6th ceremony: The bride’s late father was a guest of honour.

“My father-in-law passed away last April,” Dinesh said, “so, I’m creating a 3D avatar that looks similar to (him), and he will bless me and my fiancée. That’s something we can only do in the metaverse.”

It’s really creative of all of them who made this blending of tradition with technology possible. I was amazed to read about this and by the fact that something as traditional as Indian weddings found its place in the metaverse. We are truly amidst a revolution—of how we interact with technology and connect with the world.

Here are some cool photos:

Articles Used as a Reference (Bibliography):

Holland, Oscar, “My big fat digital wedding: Couple plan India’s first metaverse marriage,” CNN Edition: Style, January 24, 2022. Story link.

Kato, Brooke, “Couple married as avatars in virtual wedding—with bride’s late father as guest,” New York Post, February 8, 2022. Story link.

“Tamil Nadu couple hosts Asia’s first Metaverse wedding reception,” Firstpost.com, February 9, 2022. Story link.

When I caption “Used with permission from TardiVerse,” I mean it. It might seem childish to mention but IT’S THE FIRST TIME I WROTE A MAIL TO A COMPANY, here TardiVerse, AND ASKED IF I COULD USE THE IMAGES THAT WERE THEIR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY. And they allowed!!!

To get best of my Medium posts, subscribe here. Thanks for reading.