This past Valentine’s day Ms. Chowdhury married her long-distance love Tanvir Ahmmed… she was in Queens, New York and he was in Bangladesh… the ceremony was conducted over Skype. Bangladesh law honors and recognizes the ceremony as legitimate; New York law does not. However New York law does recognize all marriages which are legally conducted foreign countries… so… what does that mean in this case?
This modern day romance may seem to take online dating to the extreme however such proxy-style weddings are actually not uncommon, or without precedent. In the 18th century Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were actually married in Austria in Louis’ absence… a noble took his place at the ceremony; thus the two were actually officially married before they ever met. In addition there is a pretty long history of people being married over the telephone and before that by telegraph. These types of ceremonies were normally done for members of the military who could not make it home for a more personal ceremony.
Will online weddings take off… only time will tell.
Thoughts?