An Indian couple say they’re planning the first virtual reality wedding , and they will invite the ‘ghost’ of the bride’s late father to the wedding.

Dinesh Sivakumar Padmavathi, 24, and his fiancée Janaganandhini Ramaswamy, 23, are set to get married on February 6 in their village but will host a digital reception at a virtual venue where they will be joined by friends and family from across the world as lockdown restrictions prevent large gatherings in their state of Tamil Nadu, India.

The virtual wedding guests will include the ‘ghost’ of the late father of the bride as a digital avatar while 5000 of their friends on social media can attend the wedding’s digital reception venue as avatars .

They will be the first couple in India to marry in the ‘Metaverse’.

‘We are the first couple in the nation getting married in Metaverse. I have been working on blockchain for the past one year, so I know more about it and Crypto. Metaverse is a technology working in blockchain,’ said the groom, speaking to indianexpress.com.

‘One fine day, I came across a video on Metaverse on YouTube. I thought why can’t we do an event in [the] Metaverse? I know the future is big in Metaverse.

‘Now, companies like Microsoft, Facebook and a lot more are investing in Metaverse. So I thought by conducting an event, everyone in India will know about the technology. We can work on a start-up and develop it,’ said Padmavathi, a project associate at IIT Madras.

‘My girlfriend’s father passed away last April. I want to surprise her. I have been planning to bring him in virtually and make him a part of the event. He will be there as a 3D avatar, bless us in the Metaverse. That’s the gift I can give her, said Padmavathi.

The metaverse wedding will reportedly be Harry Potter-themed and the guest is estimated to have 2000 to 5000 of the couples friends, family and Instagram and Twitter followers in attendance.

‘I know couples have been getting married on Zoom but I wanted to go further and be the first to have my reception inside the metaverse. I also wanted to introduce the metaverse to Indians,’ said Padmavathi to The Times.

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Chennai based start-up, TardiVerse, led by Vignesh Selvaraj, is spearheading the metaverse wedding where people can log in through the website and choose an avatar.

Avatars of the couple, their family members and friends have been already designed. There will be a video streaming of the couple and the guests can talk to one another.

News of the wedding has got more couples in India interested in the idea with TardiVerse planning to conduct an event on upcoming Valentine’s day.