NEW YORK • Mrs Traci Gagnon and Mr Dave Gagnon met in the cloud, so it only made sense that their wedding took place in it.

In September last year, the couple - or rather, their digital avatars - held a ceremony staged by Virbela, a company that builds virtual environments for work, learning and events.

Mrs Gagnon's avatar was walked down the aisle by the avatar of her close friend. Mr Gagnon's avatar watched as his buddy's avatar ambled up to the stage and delivered a toast. And seven-year-old twin avatars (the ring bearer and flower girl) danced at the reception.

How the immersive virtual world known as the metaverse, which few people understand, will change the traditional wedding is, at the moment, anyone's guess.

But the possibilities of having an event unfettered by the bounds of reality are interesting enough to consider.

Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, technology is already being incorporated into ceremonies more than ever.

Zoom weddings have taken place and some in-person ceremonies now feature a live-stream component for guests who cannot be there.

Last year, a couple whose wedding was cancelled because of the pandemic staged a ceremony within Animal Crossing, a popular video game.

Like a ceremony within a video game, any weddings that occur solely in the metaverse are not legal. Still, the metaverse will take these virtual celebrations much, much further, experts say, and offer almost boundless possibilities to couples.

"There's no limitations," said Ms Sandy Hammer, a founder of Allseated, which creates digital planning tools for weddings.

The company is investing in the metaverse by creating virtual versions of real-world event spaces such as the Plaza Hotel in New York. "If you really want to do something different, in the metaverse, you might as well let your creativity go wild," she added.

Think guest lists that number in the thousands. Gift registries that feature NFTs, or non-fungible tokens. Maybe even destination weddings in space.

Ms Hammer envisions wedding parties globe-trotting virtually, saying: "A bride can transport her guests into the metaverse: 'I want my morning session to be in Italy, my evening session to be in Paris.'"

Ms Nathalie Cadet-James, a wedding planner and designer based in Miami, is approaching the metaverse with "a beginner's mind of excitement" and trying to anticipate how her role will change.

"I think my role might be more like a producer or film director," she said. "I could create a set that I've enhanced. Flowers might come out of the ground as you're walking into the space. I would add whimsy and fantasy to it - because I could."

Of course, this would require the skills of a software engineer, a role not in any typical wedding budget at the moment.

The Gagnons had a hybrid wedding of sorts. The two were married in person on Sept 4 at Atkinson Resort & Country Club in New Hampshire, where they live, in a ceremony officiated by Mr David Oleary, a friend and colleague of theirs ordained by the Universal Life Church, while simultaneously hosting a virtual ceremony in Virbela.

They live-streamed their nuptials for those who could not be there in person. Guests of the virtual ceremony attended via computer, which required downloading software and then creating an avatar.

Both Mrs Gagnon, 52, and Mr Gagnon, 60, work as agents at eXp Realty. The brokerage has embraced virtual work and the metaverse and is part of eXp World Holdings, which also owns Virbela.

Before the couple met in person, their avatars met at a company event in Las Vegas in 2015. And when they announced their engagement in 2019, their co-workers offered to remake Virbela's cloud campus into a wedding venue, free of charge.

Virbela was designed to be an immersive platform for organisations to host events and build a sense of community in the metaverse. But users have asked the company to host graduations, bar mitzvahs, weddings and other celebrations.

Mr Patrick Perry, director of event sales and partnerships for Virbela, said it has started to explore the wedding market and is in the planning stages with a few couples.

Ms Hammer said Allseated has not yet worked with a couple interested in having a wedding that takes place only in the metaverse. Besides the legality of such a ceremony, a hybrid event like the Gagnons' is much more in-demand and realistic, she said, because couples want both in-person and virtual experiences.

For Mrs Gagnon, who hired two videographers, one to capture the in-person event and another to simulcast the ceremony to the cloud, the whole point of the metaverse element was the connection it offered.

Her maid of honour, who is ill, was still able to walk her down the aisle, if virtually. And Mr Gagnon's friend, who was unable to attend because his wife has pre-existing health conditions, could deliver his toast.

The experience of moving through a virtual world as an avatar - a kind of idealised version of yourself - creates a more immersive, emotionally satisfying experience than Zoom, Mrs Gagnon said.

Being a metaverse bride had other benefits too.

"I'm always a size 4, even in January," she said, laughing. "And I never have a bad hair day."

NYTIMES