Indian couple is going to hold Metaverse Wedding.

Because Covid-19 enforces families across India to downsize or cancel their traditionally large-scale weddings, one couple has decided to hold it in an unusual way in spite of restrictions. That’s called “Metaverse Wedding” which is a term used to describe virtual 3D environments in which users can gather and interact. It was the first attempt in that country. Dinesh Sivakumar Padmavathi and Janaganandhini Ramaswamy from Tamil have invited 2, 000 people to their virtual reception next month. In addition, the pair loves Harry Potter, so they have opted for a Hogwarts-themed party that guests can participate via their phones, tablets or laptops. The legal wedding ceremony will still be taken place physically in front of close friends and relatives. However, after that, the couple will log on to join their reception, which costs 150, 000 Indian rupees ($2, 016) to design, develop and host. This event will be continued for about one hour and the couple is expected to make a conversation with others online. Attendants will be able to explore the castle and customize their avatars' appearance. As well as being able to invite guests who cannot attend, the couple said the digital celebration has another unique advantage that makes Ramaswamy's late father involved. They’re creating a 3D avatar that looks similar to him, and they believe he will be very happy. I chose this news story because I have never heard of the word, “Metaverse Wedding” before and it seems something new and exciting to me. In this pandemic situation, we cannot go around easily. Therefore, I believe that will be a new type of way to hold and enjoy events with many people. It must be contributed to keeping a good relationship with relatives and friends who are supposed to attend the virtual reception instead of going there. From that point of view, I realized the value and importance of the internet. On the other hand, it is true that the relationship online is not completely the same as the physical one. What we all know is that nothing is better than face-to-face communication in reality so far. Even though we are trying to accept this fact, in my opinion, I was impressed by the idea that Ramaswamy is trying to invite his last father for the wedding by generating his father as a 3D avatar. I wonder even his last father couldn’t imagine that he would take part in his son’s wedding ceremony and see his family again. Moreover, they can change the concept of the venue whatever they like. Personally, I like this feature as we can design a venue based on fantasy. It means that what we want to do becomes real in a virtual world. In the end, I noticed that there’re more benefits of “Metaverse Wedding” than I thought at first. I thought that’s something we can only do in the metaverse. I hope people will be able to take part in celebrations together soon once the pandemic is over. By that time, we should focus on what we can do.