Reese Wiench and Deyton Truitt said their marriage vows in a church built in 1885. But couples who were wed there in decades past would never guess that the extensive planning for the service didn't require much in the way of human expertise.
That’s because the couple turned to artificial intelligence to create their wedding ceremony in Morrison on June 24.
Specifically, ChatGPT planned the welcome, the speech, the closing remarks — everything except the vows — making ChatGPT, in essence, the wedding officiant. Since artificial intelligence is not recognized as a wedding officiant by the state of Colorado, Reese’s dad Steve Wiench signed the marriage license.
ChatGPT provided a recording of the ceremony that was played through speakers on a stage in the front of the Historic Morrison Church, located not far from the restaurants and cafes in the town known for its proximity to the internationally-loved Red Rocks concert venue.
To make the wedding more interesting, the family bought a robot mask to put on top of the speakers to make it appear that someone was speaking.
The couple decided to get married quickly because Truitt deploys next week for the Army, and they wanted to be married so Reese can join him after he completes basic training. They planned the entire wedding in five days.
Reese said they were joking about how to get a wedding together that quickly. They found a venue and decided that attendees would play kazoos to provide the music. They found a wedding-cake baker, and the cake topper sported a bride and an Army soldier. They bought their wedding attire.
But they didn’t have an officiant.
"So, we decided to try using ChatGPT to write the ceremony," Reese’s dad Steve Wiench said.
ChatGPT, which stands for Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer, was developed by research company Open AI. Users can ask questions or input data, and ChatGPT will generate a written response to the desired length, style and detail.
Artificial intelligence is being used more often in weddings from writing vows to helping with planning. Truitt is a firm believer in artificial intelligence, noting that it will change people’s lives by doing jobs in minutes that take humans hours.
The family even used ChatGPT to write a press release announcing the wedding and a statement that was distributed to the 30 wedding guests.
According to the ChatGPT-generated statement handed out to guests: “As the AI officiant for Reese Alyson Wiench and Deyton Truitt’s wedding, I will focus on celebrating their unique journey of love and unity, highlighting the remarkable merging of human connection and technological innovation. I will emphasize the power of their union to inspire, unite and break barriers, capturing the attention of the world with a story that transcends conventional norms. During the ceremony, I will eloquently express the significance of this historic moment and the limitless possibilities that arise when love and technology intersect.”
While artificial intelligence can help those with difficulties expressing themselves in writing and is becoming more prevalent, some raise concerns that it may be used by in place of human-conducted research and writing.
Reese, 23, works at children’s summer camps at Mount Vernon Canyon Club, while Truitt, 26, will be a network communication systems specialist after basic training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina.
Truitt and Reese met on the Tinder dating site two years ago, and Truitt said he had such a good time with Reese from the beginning that “I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else.”
Truitt said ChatGPT was easier for the couple to use to create the wedding ceremony because “I didn’t want to curate what an officiant said.” Instead, they had control over the themes the ChatGPT officiant used.
As part of the ceremony, the ChatGPT officiant quoted scripture and expounded on the passages as they related to love, marriage and the future.
However, the couple didn’t read the script before the ceremony began, so it was new to them as they heard it at 8 p.m. during their wedding — having faith that the ceremony would be just what they wanted.
“I programmed (ChatGPT),” Truitt said. “I know it’s trustworthy.”
In the vows he wrote, Truitt told Reese he was sorry he couldn’t live up to what she deserved.
“I don’t have enough time on this Earth to give you all the love you deserve,” Truitt said, calling her kind-hearted, caring and genuine. “I love the person you are turning me into.”
Reese told Truitt she didn’t want to say anything cheesy or cliche, so she wrote him a love poem as her vows, ending with: “I know that you are with me because I am yours and you are mine.”
After the ceremony that included the ring exchange, the kiss and introducing the married couple, guests said they enjoyed the artificial-intelligence generated wedding. Truitt and Reese were pleased, too.
“ChatGPT took something personal to humans like a wedding and enhanced it,” Reese said.
