Wagner James Au / New World Notes

Cajsa Lilliehook covers the best in virtual world screenshot art and digital painting

It’s not my place to mock anyone’s wedding photo, even if that photo is featured in the New York Times, but I certainly feel free to mock the New York Times’ Style section touting this particular virtual wedding service. (Pictured at right — seriously.) 

Even with images from the days of system layers and flexi, Second Life wedding photos are so much better. (Unsurprisingly, Second Life also has a thriving industry of virtual wedding planners, which I wrote about for Avenue magazine.)

I thought I might collect a few pictures from Second Life, in case the couple from the Times article ever decides to do a vow renewal. Like the couple in the picture below, celebrating their first year with an epic ceremony. (It was posted by the bride Anna Katherine, who hired a team of photographers for the event.)

Second Life also has a great variety of weddings, not just the traditional formal Western ceremony. Here is a beautifully vibrant “Big Fat Indian Wedding”:

It’s by Cereza Chan, an events photographer. She has shot more than one wedding, and this one is gorgeous.  

For more gorgeous examples of SL weddings, click here:

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TinTin Tuxing has the traditional photo of the bridesmaids helping the bride get ready. I love the candid feeling of the picture. In another pre-wedding candid, Adalina Huntsman says “Yes to the Dress” or maybe not — see picture.

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Kyoka Jun gives us a traditional Japanese wedding kimono. She seems to be posing with a bridesmaid, a reminder that wedding photos are so much more than just the pose at the altar. 

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I love AJ Arabello’s “The Promise of Tomorrow in Her Eyes” which makes me think this might be a post-bender wedding picture. Is that the promise of tomorrow or the hangover of a lifetime? 

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Second Life is also a place where people are free to be themselves not just in the privacy of their homes but at their big, beautiful wedding. Tammy Jones shared this lovely furry-human wedding photo.

In Second Life, your wedding can be as big or as small, as simple or as formal, as you like. And just think, those gowns are probably around 750 Lindens (i.e. about $3 USD). This wedding party photo is absolutely gorgeous, one of many by another excellent wedding photographer Nora Mae Julian. Now, if only the New York Times could look at her wedding pics. 

Let’s celebrate Second Life weddings in all their joy and diversity. I created an album of SL wedding pics embedded above. There are also several Flickr groups for weddings but they are unmoderated and full of miscellaneous pics from the folks who mass post their pictures without regard for the sexual content rules. Either that or they are photos from their wedding night. 

See all of Cajsa's Choices here. Follow Cajsa on Flickr, on Twitter or on her blog. 

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