Aside from the traditional wedding venue, many couples are choosing to make their big day a true reflection of their unique personalities and love stories by staging ceremonies in places that are truly out of this world. This trend has seen couples getting married beside a forest stream, in a rustic horse stable, and even at the peak of a mountain!
Now, a Florida company is taking this idea to the next level by offering couples the chance to get married in space. The company, called Space Perspective, will send couples into orbit in a carbon-neutral balloon that will offer them the best possible view of Earth from high above.
The waitlist for this once-in-a-lifetime experience is already light-years long, and for good reason: Space Perspective promises that the flight will be “truly out of this world.” According to a press release, Spaceship Neptune, which the company will use for this initiative, will remain securely attached to the SpaceBalloon during the entire journey from liftoff to splashdown, creating a safe and seamless experience for passengers.
In 2003, a Russian cosmonaut became the first person in history to marry a woman while in space on a mission. The cosmonaut, Yuri Malenchenko, wore a formal flight suit during the ceremony, which was conducted via video linkup between the International Space Station and a hall in Houston, Texas. Guests cheered as the bride, dressed in a classic white wedding gown, walked down the aisle to the music of David Bowie’s ‘Absolute Beginners’ and slid her ring on her left hand. Afterward, she and the cosmonaut kissed through the camera on their screen, while one of his colleagues stood in for him in Houston to follow Texas law.
It is unclear how much this new space-themed wedding trend will take off, but it is certainly an interesting possibility. With the Metaverse — an immersive virtual world — already making an impact on the wedding industry with ceremonies that happen via video conference and gift registries filled with NFTs (non-fungible tokens), the future of space weddings seems limitless.
Whether or not these futuristic weddings will actually take place in the Metaverse is another story altogether. The covid-19 pandemic has caused traditional weddings to become more tech-savvy, with some in-person ceremonies now featuring a livestream component and other technology that allows people who can’t attend to still be part of the celebration. A couple whose wedding was canceled during the pandemic also staged a non-legal ceremony within Animal Crossing, an immersive video game.
Regardless of where a couple chooses to celebrate their big day, there are many opportunities for them to add some out-of-this-world details to their festivities. For instance, the bride and groom can wear NASA astronaut flight suits for an authentic space theme or go with shiny, metallic styles if they’re more into the modern sci-fi look. For a playful touch, guests can wear springy Martian antennae headbands and toy ray guns as party favors.