The world witnessed the first-ever wedding ceremony in the metaverse, which took place in Decentraland over the weekend. The digital wedding occurred on Feb 5 complete with witnesses present, Supreme Court Justice officiant Clint Bolick and a virtual crowd of 2,000 guests.
The Rose Law Group legally formalized the marriage for the couple – Ryan and Candice Hurley. Jordan Rose, the Rose Law Group’s Founder and President, highlighted the wedding as a first-ever of its kind hosted on any blockchain-based metaverse. She believes the metaverse is still in its infancy but they have developed the legal paradigm for a legally recognized marriage.
The world’s first wedding on the metaverse was held on Rose Law Group’s estate on Decentraland. The law firm has developed a meta-marriage framework by incorporating a “Virtual Premarital Agreement”. It recognized the couple’s virtual identities and digital assets as recorded on the blockchain.
However, there is somewhat of a legality issue here. The American Marriage Ministries (AMM) says that all states that allow virtual online weddings have to have officiants and couples to use video-conferencing technology. It allows them to see and hear each other in real-time conferencing technology, without disruptions or distortion of their appearance. As such, metaverse-weddings will not be legally binding, until and unless there is a change in the law.
But Ryan and Candice Hurley’s case is different. They first met on an online matchmaking portal in the days of internet dating have been together for 14-years. They renewed their marriage vows in the metaverse. Their marriage license is a non-fungible token, and is forever stored on the blockchain. Hurley said he will choose marriage and family every single day for the rest of their lives and throughout eternity.
