The Price of Tying the Virtual Knot
SECOND LIFE, May 28 (Reuters) - Srv4u Conacher, 34, and Josi Nebestanka, 39, were recently married in a large, lavish ceremony by Kande Knox. Conacher, a gospel blues singer, met his wife at a karaoke bar in Orlando, where he sang “Bohemian Rhapsody.” At their wedding, Nebestanka didn’t simply walk down the aisle; she floated down from the sky on a giant rose petal.
That’s not an announcement that would be found in the Weddings section of the New York Times — only in Second Life. And as the virtual world’s avatars have their first, second or even seventh dream weddings, the virtual bridal industry is increasingly lucrative for planners, builders and designers.
Knox, a wedding planner who does not disclose her real-life identity, typically charges her clients between L$10,000 (US$37.20) for bare bones ceremonies to L$80,000 for large, fully customized celebrations. Typically, she earns about L$30,000 per wedding, which doesn’t include the price of dresses and tuxedos.
“I think it’s fun. Some people who never had the money in real life to have a really gorgeous wedding can for $100 or $200 have the wedding of their dreams,” said Baccara Rhodes, another virtual wedding planner who in real life is retired events planner Nanci Schenkein.
Second Life planners usually charge a flat rate, which include an altar, flowers, drinks, a reception hall, customized invitations, a wedding cake and someone to officiate the ceremony. They also often set up their clients with photographers and DJs.
“A lot of people use planners. It takes a lot of worry out of their big day and most don’t have the space to set up a big wedding place for the one event,” said Jade Opel (real life name: Tracy Kampf), who has planned hundreds of in-world weddings and now owns a bridal store. “The resources the planners have by far outweigh having to run all over Second Life looking for this and that,”.
The virtual world offers nearly infinite opportunities to customize a wedding. It goes beyond picking the colors of bouquets or the menu at the reception. Knox once planned a wedding for vampire couples, complete with a blood cake, a black bat altar and torches lining the walls. She has married cowboys, countless gay couples, three people together, and a witch to a furry.
Knox put one wedding together with the theme “Guns and Fire,” because one of the women loved guns, and the other fire. The challenge, she said, was making it tasteful.
Opel’s own wedding was among her favorites. She built a whole castle and had the ceremony scripted to the score of “Phantom of the Opera.”
“The strangest, though, would be a furry wedding. We had hard time getting some of the furries in gowns,” she said, laughing.
Puddytat Zamboni, whose real name is Kimberly Lawton, runs a wedding planning service with 15 employees, including decorators, DJs, photographers and security guards. She offers three different wedding packages, from the basic Silver costing L$5,000 to the deluxe Diamond, which runs from L$10,000-19,000. The most expensive option includes all the basics, plus a two night honeymoon stay at a virtual resort and “dinner” for two at a restaurant.
Choosing the perfect bridal dress is a top priority for many Second Life brides, according to designers like Kimmera Madison (real name Pam Weston). Her designs aren’t limited by some of the constraints of real life fashion. For one thing, they can be animated to move in different ways as the bride walks. Unlike the dresses that Madison has designed in real life, she doesn’t have to worry about the shape of a bride’s body.
Real life designers continue to inspire Madison and other designers as they create new pieces. She recently made a virtual knock-off of a real life Vera Wang dress. Regardless of the cut and time spent, she charges the same price for all of her dresses: L$1,500.
Tuxedos cost a fraction of the price, ranging from L$300-500. One of the reasons for the discrepancy is that most grooms are far less enthusiastic about shopping, Madison said.
“I usually get the guy that says, ‘She said I had to come here for this tux’ buys it, and leaves,” she said.
The ease of marrying and divorcing on Second Life have led to increased rates of both. Wedding planners joke about “repeat customers,” but said they were relatively rare among their clients.
Rhodes said she had noticed many more flippant brides and grooms in the past year. She was one of the first 500 people on Second Life when it began, and said she has seen the culture of virtual marriages change dramatically since then.
“The early weddings, they were really partnerships. They were people who were working together, these were people who had known each other a long time,” she said. “I’ve done weddings now where, by the end of the week, they’re not partnered anymore.”
Knox, who married her Second Life husband in real life, said she has seen her share of “chronic marriers” who could put Elizabeth Taylor to shame but that most marriages seem to have a good shot at success.
Conacher and Nebestanka — the bride and groom who met over karaoke “Bohemian Rhapsody” — were already married in real life when they took their virtual world vows. The couple, whose real names are Ray and Debora Confer, said the L$20,000 they spent on their wedding was well worth the price of renewing their vows virtually.
“The one thing that is a constant though is we are a team no matter what life we are in,” Nebestanka said.
