The first couple has just had their wedding... in the metaverse

Traci and Dave Gagnon met back in October 2015 in virtual form inside of Dave's "virtual office" as an avatar, and fast forward just 6 years and the couple is the first to get married in the metaverse... while getting married in real-life.

2

The couple met in real life after meeting during their company's global convention -- the two work for a real estate brokerage -- and then started dating in March 2019. After 3 months of romance they were engaged, and then on September 4, 2021 the couple got married in a virtual chapel in the sky.

Traci told Insider that it was the CEO of the real estate company they worked for that floated the idea of a virtual wedding and getting married "in the cloud". A sister branch of the employer who creates virtual spaces stepped in, and provided the virtual world for the Gagnon's to get married in the metaverse.

2

A traditional wedding was hosted in real life with 100 guests in Manchester, New Hampshire on September 4, 2021 -- invited guests who couldn't make it due to the pandemic rules, could celebrate with the couple in the metaverse. There was one wedding photographer that recorded the real-life, real-world wedding while another covered the live stream for the virtual guests.

Traci's wedding dress was used to customize her avatar to look more like her, with a specially designed virtual avatar of the couple for their wedding during the ceremony. Traci added: "The avatars can dance, the avatars can run, the avatars can do all kinds of really, really cool things. I think it shows that the world has changed and what could be possible next. It is a very exciting thing".

What's the cost of a wedding in the metaverse?

• $30,000 or so for a virtual wedding
• $10,000 for something with less customization