Ryan and Candice Hurley, the bride and groom, chose Rose Law Group to formally register their marriage. Jordan Rose, the group’s Founder and President, believes it was the first wedding ceremony ever held on a blockchain-based Metaverse.
The legal aspect of the Metaverse marriage
We built the legal concept for a legally recognized relationship as the Metaverse is still in its infancy, she added.
The wedding took place on Rose Law Group’s Decentraland estate. By adding a “Virtual Premarital Agreement,” the law firm created a “meta-marriage framework,” which recognized the couple’s virtual identities and digital assets as recorded on the blockchain.
Meanwhile, a “Meta-Marriage License” on the blockchain as an NFT recognized, documented, and tokenized the couple’s virtual identities and place of ceremony.
Despite Rose’s assurances that the wedding is lawful, it appears that many legal experts are unconvinced. People must present as their real-life persons during a lawful wedding ceremony, not as their digital avatars, according to the American Marriage Ministries.
Furthermore, most states in the United States do not allow a couple to be married by a video conferencing officiant or if the couple is in different locations at the time of the ceremony.
A wedding or a failed attempt?
Despite the fact that the couple appeared to be planning a futuristic wedding, they were confronted with some very archaic technical challenges. The number of visitors at the event caused Decentraland to struggle, and the NFT gifts for guests were rapidly claimed only about 20 minutes into the event.
Furthermore, Ryan’s avatar was left at the aisle when Candice’s avatar failed to appear – but just for a few guests. The bride wore a dress, a hoodie, or wasn’t there at all, depending on which server guests had been divided into.
After a failed attempt to make the wedding function on Decentraland, one guest directed visitors to Rose Law Group’s Instagram, where the real-world couple was sealing their vows through a Livestream.
Recently, a South Indian couple swore their eternal love in the form of NFT and chose a digital priest to conduct their marriage.
