Abu Dhabi's online weddings are marrying society and technology

Having a remote wedding may strike some as unromantic, but giving couples the opportunity to get married legally, quickly and affordably is an important social good. Getty

From reporting potholes and renewing documents to registering a birth or starting a business, there are few things that over four million of Abu Dhabi's residents cannot do with just a few keystrokes on their smartphones. This is largely thanks to a government portal and mobile app called Tamm – Arabic for “done”. This is the emirate’s one-stop shop for more than 1,000 official services.

As of this week, citizens and residents can add a rather more special offering to this list: getting married. Launched on the sidelines of Gitex, the technology exhibition in Dubai, couples enrolled on the Tamm app can now tie the knot in an online wedding ceremony for Dh800 ($217). Overseen by the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department, this service is now available to any citizen, resident or visitor.

Having a remote wedding may strike some as a little unromantic, but giving couples the opportunity to get married legally, quickly and affordably is an important social good. People already resident in Abu Dhabi will be able to bring their partner to begin a new life in the UAE, and young couples can sidestep the high costs that often come with lavish wedding ceremonies. However, as intriguing as this new service is, it also says a lot about where Abu Dhabi is going with its embrace of tech-forward digital government.

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Since its launch, Tamm has taken much of the paperwork and bureaucracy out of everyday life. From scheduling routine medical appointments to organising school records, citizens and residents have an app at their fingertips that continues to evolve. With more than 90 public and private partners, Tamm this year unveiled new partnerships with the UAE’s Wio Bank, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and traffic safety services organisation Saaed. That more and more people use Tamm’s services on a daily basis demonstrates that they find the technology reliable and that they trust it with their data – no mean feat at a time when many are rightly concerned about protecting themselves online.

That more and more people use Tamm’s services on a daily basis demonstrates that they find the technology reliable and that they trust it with their data. Photo: Tamm

Tamm is becoming something of a model to follow. In May, Microsoft's president and vice chairman Brad Smith told a US Senate commerce, science and transport committee hearing that Abu Dhabi's AI initiatives and apps were empowering residents. "We need to bring it to America," he added. In February at a UAE event, Charles Lamanna, Microsoft's corporate vice president of business and industry, was shown Tamm’s AI assistant. Mr Lamanna later told The National that Tamm’s demonstration was among some of the most impressive he had seen.

That more and more people use Tamm’s services on a daily basis demonstrates that they find the technology reliable and that they trust it with their data

This is about much more than saving time and cutting red tape. It is about quality of life. For newcomers to Abu Dhabi, having a user-friendly and functional app that helps them hit the ground running by quickly registering a tenancy or getting digital copies of essential documents is an important part of the settling-in process in a verified and secured manner. For citizens or residents, Tamm frees up valuable time by reducing interactions to a matter of a few minutes on their computer or smartphone, rather than repeated trips to government offices, armed with paperwork.

Marrying one’s partner online may not be everyone’s first choice when it comes to matrimony. But if the success of Abu Dhabi’s introduction of civil marriage in 2021 is anything to go by, Tamm’s latest service may be a sign of things to come.