Couple Marries in Taco Bell 'Metaverse' Ceremony: 'Fun, Romantic and More Than a Little Weird'
Courtesy of Taco Bell
Taco Bell knows how to throw a wedding that's out of this world, literally.
On Feb. 24, the famed fast food restaurant hosted a unique (and legally binding) wedding ceremony in the metaverse for Sheel Mohnot and Amruta Godbole, a San Francisco-based couple.
The private nuptials took place in Decentraland, a 3D browser-based platform allowing shared virtual exploration.
"I think, in my vows, I said that I promised that our life would always be fun and romantic and more than a little weird, just like today," Godbole tells PEOPLE exclusively.
Courtesy of Taco Bell
The pair never planned on having their wedding in the metaverse, but after Taco Bell announced a competition offering couples the chance to win the unusual ceremony, they decided to enter.
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"I'm a big Taco Bell fan, and I think people on Twitter had noticed that I'd posted about Taco Bell," says Mohnot.
"And so, when they announced the competition, a lot of people tagged me, like, 'Hey, you got to do this, you got to do this,' he recalls. "So we were on a road trip, and I was like, 'Hey babe, there's this thing. It'd be fun to apply. You just got to submit a two-minute video.' And she was a really good sport," he says of his bride, adding:
"We went to a Taco Bell, and I think we recorded it in two takes."
Courtesy of Taco Bell
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To their surprise, the pair beat out 300 couples and won the contest.
"They messaged us that we had won, and we were like, 'Okay, then we have to think about it a little more. Do we really want to do this?' We had a call with the Taco Bell team, and they did a really good job of convincing us," he says. "They were like, 'Hey, this is going to be your wedding. You're going to have a lot of input onto things. We're not going to tell you what to do.' And they really delivered on that."
Godbole adds that prior to the wedding they weren't totally familiar with the 3D platform.
"We didn't have a background in that really. We both work in tech, so we have some connection to some of this," she says. "But we weren't coming in as huge Decentraland users and we weren't big on any of those sorts of platforms, but we saw that aspect of it as just an opportunity to have a more unique experience, the idea that this would be something totally new, that even Taco Bell had never been done before, that this was going to be the first legal wedding in the metaverse, we're told. We didn't have experience with it, but we were excited to do something totally new and unique and to get that experience as a result of participating in this."
Following the couple's "I dos" the newlyweds celebrated as husband and wife with a reception at Taco Bell's ocean-front Pacifica Cantina in San Francisco with friends and family.
Guests dined on Mexican pizza, Dorito Loco tacos, chalupas, black bean chalupas and a three-tiered Cinnabon Delight cake. "We really kind of made it our own," says Mohnot. "We played a bunch of games, we had a trivia contest, and it's like, it's a really beautiful Taco Bell. It doesn't feel like you're in a fast food restaurant."
Courtesy of Taco Bell
Though Godbole admits she might not be quite as big of a Taco Bell superfan as her husband, the restaurant still holds a special place in her heart.
"There was one in my hometown. I went there frequently ... I was studying for my bar exam, and I would treat myself for lunch every day, just go get Taco Bell, and sadly, eat it in my car near the library," she says.
"But that was the highlight of my day," she adds. "I'm a fan as well."
Courtesy of Taco Bell
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Mohnot, who grew up vegetarian, says he's been a fan of the chain since he was a kid.
"Taco Bell is hugely popular in the Indian community. And I think it's because it's very vegetarian friendly," he says. "Of all the fast food restaurants, it always has been vegetarian friendly. There were like zero items that you could eat at most fast food places, but almost everything on the menu at Taco Bell's reconfigurable to be vegetarian. So that's huge. And then, it's spicy. It's affordable. So for me, growing up, going out to eat was almost synonymous with going to Taco Bell."
In addition to their recent metaverse wedding, the pair says they're also planning a second ceremony later this year.
"It was super fun," says Mohnot. "We were able to accomplish a lot and make it our own wedding. There's some criticisms of the metaverse out there, but I think the reality is it was just a very fun and loving ceremony that we were able to do our way in a way that would not be possible any other way. We loved it. And I think all of our friends did too. We've gotten so many people have been messaging us, that were able to be a part of it, just commenting on how fun it was and how loving the whole thing was. It was great."
