Computer minister marries Houston couple

Rev. Bit greeted the 30 guests, in his robotic voice, told them a few stories about the happy couple and then lead them through their "I dos".

Hanson even programmed Rev. Bit to declare at that most poignant moment during the ceremony when last objections may be raised: "If anyone here has anything to say that might change their minds or has any objections, they do not want to hear it and I will not recognize your objections since Miguel has programmed me to only recognize his commands."

Wesley was thrilled about how her big day went. "Nothing about this wedding was traditional. We're not a traditional couple. We're kind of geeky, we're kind of techy and this was for us everything we wanted," she said.

The computer-officiated wedding won't be legally binding. Mr Hanson and Ms Wesley still have to get a justice of the peace to sign their paperwork to make the marriage official. They plan to do that shortly after the ceremony.

"We're both friends of the computer. So it's kind of like our best friend is still marrying us," the bride said. "The computer is a huge part of our lives, so why not be a huge part of this?"

While performing weddings might not be the next logical step in the evolution of computers, the Texan newlyweds are not alone in wanting holy matrimony to be more high tech.

The computer-officiated wedding won’t be legally binding. Hanson and Wesley still have to get a justice of the peace to sign their paperwork to make the marriage official. They plan to do that shortly after the ceremony.

“We’re both friends of the computer. So it’s kind of like our best friend is still marrying us,” Wesley said. “The computer is a huge part of our lives, so why not be a huge part of this?”

The story does not mention whether Hanson and Wesley are people of faith. I wish it had. In the video, after Wesley reads her vows from an iPhone in a hot pink case, she says, “We’re not a traditional couple; we’re kind of tech-y, we’re kind of geeky.”

Perhaps this is the rise of the Church of the Geek?

Clearly technology means a lot to this pair, and over the past several decades computers and the Internet have been able to assume roles that were traditionally held by the church. I discussed this phenomenon in a post featuring the viral video “The Internet is My Religion.”

But is the Internet replacing people’s once-religious experiences or supplementing them? I’m not sure. When it comes to getting hitched, church weddings have declined 60 percent among Roman Catholics in the U.S. over the past 40 years, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, and anecdotally, more people are having ordained-online friends perform the ceremony.