India’s first 3D wedding takes places on Yug Metaverse

Abhijeet and Sansrati, who tied the knot on Saturday, February 5th 2022, became India’s first couple to get married on a 3D Metaverse. The wedding took place on Yug Metaverse (made-in-India metaverse platform). The association was conceptualised, organised and executed by the media agency Wavemaker India for ITC Ltd., and Matrimony.com.

The digital avatars of the couple had their ceremony hosted on a scenic beach side venue where the guests also joined in via their digital avatars. The wedding took place on 5th Feb 2022, 8 pm to 9 pm, and coincided with the physical event held in Bhopal.

Abhijeet Goel, a tech entrepreneur, and Dr. Sansrati, from Bhopal, met each other online through a matrimonial site. They decided to tie the knot but wanted their friends and family across the globe to be a part of their big day and that’s when they thought of getting married on a virtual platform where everyone can be a part of their wedding without compromising on the safety of their guests.

Utkarsh Shukla, creator of Yug Metaverse, explains: “Metaverse is a new concept and its adoption is still at an early stage worldwide. We wanted India to lead and be at the forefront of this technology revolution, and hence we built a Metaverse Platform, YUG, in India. The team is excited to explore the possibilities that emerging technologies like metaverse, blockchain & cryptocurrency will open up in future."

Wavemaker, part of GroupM, played an instrumental role in crafting partnerships with two major brands, ITC Ltd and Matrimony.com, for this first-of-its-kind 3D wedding on Metaverse platform.

About this industry-first event, Ajay Gupte, CEO – South Asia, Wavemaker, said: “Marketing on Metaverse platform is the next wave in digital marketing. At Wavemaker, we have always aimed to positively provoke our clients and create industry-first innovative work for our brands. We have built an in-house team of experts to help our clients navigate better in this domain and find the right fit to associate with metaverse events. Metaverse is still at its nascent stage and offers us huge opportunity to shape the platform that we really believe in. This is the future of consumer experience and we are all excited to ride this wave.”

About the 3D wedding, Arjun Bhatia, Chief Marketing Officer at Matrimony.com, said: “As a company, Matrimony.com has been at the forefront of providing rich and transformative experiences for customers in the real world, through constant innovation over the last 22 years. We feel excited about collaborating in a virtual world wedding experiment that opens up immense possibilities of engagement and immersion at YUG metaverse.”

Metaverse is a kind of virtual world where people can enter the digital world through virtual identity. In this virtual space, people also get a chance to hang out, shop, and meet friends.

Fabelle, the premium luxury chocolate brand from the house of ITC, partnered with this epic event as gifting partner. “At Fabelle we believe in making occasions memorable and experiences unforgettable with our range of luxury chocolates. Metaverse is taking the digital experiences of consumers to the next upgraded version. Fabelle is pleased to be a part of this path-breaking wedding concept in the Yug metaverse and making the milestone memorable for the couple”, said Anuj Kumar Rustagi , COO - Chocolates, Confectionery, Coffee & New Businesses, ITC Ltd Foods Division.

Abhijeet and Sansrati created a scenic beachside wedding environment which could be accessed via Yug platform. The wedding had more than 500 registrations. Users could change their avatars, walk through the event and enjoy the dancing floor too.

“Metaverses like Yug are a logical evolution of the current 2D Internet to an Immersive 3D experience akin to the real world. It holds a lot of potential for the future and is progressively on the path of blurring the boundaries between the physical and virtual world. Yug is an open platform where people can create their own experiences like marriages, virtual events, exhibitions, friends hangout, business meetings and conferences or enjoy experiences created by others. We believe that by making the platform decentralised, it will transform various fields like education, business, commerce and entertainment.” said Shashank from Yug.