Tamil Nadu couple who met on Instagram to hold wedding reception in metaverse

Metaverse: The reception will take place in the virtual headquarters of the Hogwarts castle. (Image credit: Screengrab from video tweeted by @kshatriyan2811)

A Tamil Nadu couple is all set to hold their wedding reception in the metaverse, with guests logging in virtually from all over the world. Dinesh SP and Janaganandhini Ramaswamy’s reception will take place in the virtual headquarters of the Hogwarts castle – its dining room, to be precise.

Times of India reported that the couple’s virtual avatars will meet the guests in the metaverse venue, with the event being presided over by the avatar of the bride’s late father. The couple is set to tie the knot on February 6. While Janaganandhini is a software developer, Dinesh works as a project associate at IIT Madras. Their wedding will take place in Tamil Nadu’s Sivalingapuram village. It was Dinesh who came up with the idea of holding the wedding reception in the metaverse and the pitch, of course, had Janaganandhini’s approval.

Dinesh told Times of India that has been a cryptocurrency and blockchain enthusiast for a while, having mined ethereum for the past one year. He added that this was what led him to the idea of holding his wedding reception in the metaverse, since blockchain in the basic principle behind the virtual world. Janaganandhin, too, too felt that this was an ideal way to go about their wedding, since the couple had originally met on Instagram. They have also taken into account the global surge in COVID-19 cases.

Dinesh had approached Vignesh Selvaraj of Qatics Tech, who had been designing Tardiverse, where people could meet and play. At Dinesh and Janaganandhini’s wedding reception, guests will be able to choose from Indian traditional to western attire for their avatars, and will also be able to gift the couple via GPay or Crypto.

Last year, a couple from the US became the first to get married in the metaverse. However, it took place simultaneously with their physical wedding. Traci and Dave Gagnon’s digital avatars held a ceremony staged by US-based company Virbela that builds virtual environments for work, learning and events. Their virtual ceremony featuring their digital avatars and guests took place at the same time as their physical wedding. The couple were married in person on September 4 at Atkinson Resort & Country Club, New Hampshire, US while simultaneously hosting a virtual ceremony in a mataverse created by Virbela, New York Times reported.