Anil Narasipuram and Shruti Nair got married in a wedding like no other. In November 2021, the two decided to immortalise their union using blockchain technology. Their unique wedding -- billed as India's first blockchain wedding -- was documented in a Twitter thread and a LinkedIn post in January. The posts have now gone viral online at a time when high-tech weddings are becoming more and more popular.
In his LinkedIn post, Anil Narasipuram revealed that the online ceremony took place after a formal court wedding in Pune, Maharashtra, with limited people in attendance, thanks to the pandemic. "Considering the pandemic era that we live in we decided to keep things small with a courthouse wedding, also known as a 'Registered Marriage' in India. We also decided to immortalize our union using blockchain technology," wrote Mr Narasipuram.
"Shruti and I made our marriage 'blockchain official' with an Ethereum smart contract that consecrated our commitment to each other in the form of an NFT minted on OpenSea," the design professor wrote.
NFTs are digital assets that exist on a blockchain kept on networked computers. The blockchain allows anyone to verify the authenticity and ownership of an NFT. In this case, an image of the bride's engagement ring was used to create the NFT, which also had the couple's wedding vows embedded in it.
The ceremony was officiated by a "digital priest" Anoop Pakki.
"To prepare for the ceremony, both my wife and I had set up Metamask wallets and our digital priest Anoop Pakki minted the NFT on OpenSea and transferred it to me," Mr Narasipuram explained. OpenSea is an online marketplace for non-fungible tokens or NFTs, while Metamask is a cryptocurrency wallet which allows users to access their Ethereum wallet through an app.
After that, the bride and groom sat next to each other, with close friends and family in attendance over Google Meet. They read their vows and received the blessings of their digital priest. After that, the groom confirmed the transaction to transfer the NFT to his wife's digital wallet.
"The transaction is a permanent, immutable and public record of our commitment to each other on the ETH blockchain," wrote Mr Narasipuram.
Mr Narasipuram predicted that his wedding would only be the beginning of blockchain weddings in India.
"We may be the first couple married on the blockchain in India (AFAIK), but we certainly won't be the last," he wrote.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced many couples to host smaller and more intimate weddings. At such a time, a number of people have turned to technology to ensure their close friends and family members do not miss out on the celebrations.
In Tamil Nadu, a couple hosted a wedding reception on metaverse. Guests were presented with digital avatars to enter a Hogwarts-themed online reception in the high-tech wedding. In West Bengal, another couple made sure their family attended their wedding virtually. Guests used Google Meet to 'attend' the ceremony and ate food delivered to their homes via Zomato.
