TWO tech-savvy newlyweds tied the knot with family and friends on Saturday – both virtually and in real life.

In what is believed to be Singapore’s first Twitter wedding, or “Twedding”, as groom Melvin Yuan, 32, called it, the couple “tweeted” about their tea ceremony and wedding vows, and even put up pictures live from the wedding venues on Saturday.

Twitter is a Web/cellphone service with about 14 million users which allows users to transmit messages of up to 140 characters to people who have subscribed to their “life” feeds.

One of its fans is Mr Yuan, a director of digital media strategies at a public relations firm here. His friends suggested that he should post details of his big day – live – on the Net as it unfolded.

He toyed with the idea for a few days, and decided the week before the wedding to make it happen.

Most of the time, Mr Yuan typed his own posts, though he also roped in his friend, project manager Jael Chng, 31, to help when he was occupied with certain ceremony requirements.

The “tweeting” began with the birds, when Ms Chng began posting from the bride-to-be’s home at 8am on Saturday, exchanging quips with Mr Yuan, who was posting from his cellphone en route.

Later, as his bride, marketing executive Ruth Liu, 24, tried to place the wedding band on the groom, Ms Chng posted: “Ruth is now giving the ring to Melvin...some difficulty...did Melvin put on weight?”

The running commentary was well mreceived by friends half a world away as well as those at the wedding.

Law undergraduate Jerrick Lim, 20, who is studying at Warwick University in Britain, said the feed was “an absolute delight to read and made me feel almost like I was there”.

A few Twitter-related weddings have been held overseas, including one last Thursday in Britain, where even the preacher tweeted about the ceremony.

This article was first published in The Straits Times.