- Footballer Kevin-Prince Boateng married in the metaverse this weekend
- The former AC Milan and Barcelona man said he wanted to “do something special” for his wife-to-be
- NFT ticket holders were able to attend the event
Former AC Milan and Barcelona footballer Kevin-Prince Boateng married in the metaverse this weekend, the most high profile individual to do so. Boateng, who now plays for Hertha BSC, tied the knot with Italian model and businesswoman Valentina Fradegrada in this latest example of Web 3.0 nuptials, although the ceremony itself was still ceremonial rather than legal. Attendees included NFT ticket buyers, who were able to pick them up for $50 a pop to witness a piece of digital history, although the reality ended up being far from expectation.
Stunning Invite Belies Reality of the Metaverse
The metaverse wedding was arranged by augmented reality metaverse engineers Over, with digital artist DɅRK (@francescodvrk) designing a stunning wedding invitation:
YES! I can finally show you the artwork I’ve made for @KPBofficial & @VFradegrada ‘s wedding event in the @OVRtheReality metaverse 😍😍
This will be the official NFT invitation 👀
Congrats guys! pic.twitter.com/AwmbJfbDoX
— DɅRK (@francescodvrk) June 9, 2022
Tickets were also on offer in the form of NFTs, which went on sale for $50 each in the days before the event, although quite who would want to part with $50 to watch the digital representations of two strangers get married is a somewhat baffling concept.
When it came to the actual event, as is everything with these early incarnations of the metaverse, the reality was very different from what was advertised:
The first wedding in our Metaverse!
Congratulations, @KPBofficial and Valentina!! 💕#metaverse #overthereality #comeonovrt #wedding #marriage pic.twitter.com/P5gctBK06Y
— Over the Reality (@OVRtheReality) June 11, 2022
By way of explanation for the odd scene, Boateng said after the event that he “wanted to do something special for Valentina, something that nobody had ever done.” With regard to the former aspect, it’s a well known fact that what all women truly want on their wedding day is to have a bunch of strangers and some dogs looking on while you get married on the moon next to a fountain that spurts blood and a massive flag of the wedding organiser.
With regard to the latter, he’s bang out of luck with this one too – the first metaverse wedding was between Traci and Dave Gagnon in December 2021, and there have been several since.
Let’s hope we can look back on these moments with a certain fondness in the future, kind of in the way that people over 40 do with dial up internet, and not as the pinnacle of the metaverse.
