Game developers to tie the knot at GDC’s first wedding

Two game developers are set to get married at GDC this week, the event’s first ever wedding.

Schell Games designer Heidi McDonald and Catalina Games founder Alex McPhearson will tie the knot on March 20th at 7pm at the Moscone Center, where the conference is being held all this week.

The two first met at GDC two years ago as Conference Associates, and got engaged last August. After trying their luck with UBM and asking if they could organise the wedding at the event itself this year, they were greeted with a firm yes, much to their surprise.

The wedding will feature remixed game audio, and elements of the wedding ceremony itself will be gamified. Even the wedding cake will be game-themed.

The couple’s wedding ceremony and reception is invite-only, but McDonald tells Develop they have a list of ‘notables’, industry icons who they’d love to see attend even without an invite.

"When Alex and I got engaged last August, we began drawing up our guest list and immediately noticed a pattern," McDonald told Develop.

"Realising how many people would need to travel to Pittsburgh to attend, and that we’d only need to fly four guests if we held it in San Francisco during GDC week, we started checking out venues in the San Francisco area. We were kind of joking around about ‘too bad we can’t ask to just have it at Moscone’. Then we looked at each other, shrugged, and decided we had nothing to lose by asking.

"We were not expecting in a million years that UBM was going to say yes to this. We feel really lucky, special and grateful. Alex and I met in 2012 at the GDC, both as CA’s. Thursday, we will get married in the place where we met, surrounded by our CA family — our best friends in both the industry and in life.

"The ceremony and reception are by invitation only, but we do have a list of notables who we’d love to see crash it (Looking at you, Notch!). There are video game references, ceremony elements, and gamification elements in the ceremony (such as, the audience will select a member of the bridal party in real-time, and this choice will affect something later).

"We wanted this to be fun and meaningful, as well as a celebration of our life’s work, and the industry that brought us together and introduced us to so many amazing friends. We are also grateful to companies such as UbiSoft, PopCap, Schell Games, Wicked Fun and others who have helped us engineer some cool surprises for those who are celebrating with us."

You can keep up with the wedding news at the GDC wedding website.

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