WILMINGTON, Del. John Roehsler took his wedding vows, exchanged rings with his bride - and turned to the webcam.

"Whoever's watching . . . we're sorry that you couldn't be here," the groom said. "But you are here, so that's great. The 21st century rocks."

Roehsler and his bride, the former Neperthey Velasco, used a webcast to allow friends and family in roughly 10 states and a dozen countries to view their wedding ceremony live. It's a service now offered for weddings and funerals to allow far-flung family and friends to take part.

Wedding webcasts have been offered by a few companies for several years, and Las Vegas wedding chapels also market webcast ceremonies. But webcasting a wedding remains unusual; no couple has used the service in Virginia's Wise County, the first to acquire the technology in 2000, said Clerk of Court Jack Kennedy.

The Roehslers' June wedding was the first to use the wedding webcast capabilities in New Castle County, where the couple live. Their seven-minute ceremony included a few extras for the Web audience: "John, please take Neperthey's ring, so the whole camera and everyone can see here," said Ken Boulden, clerk of the peace for New Castle County.

The wedding's intended online viewers included farflung members of the bride's family, but members of the groom's family watched online, too, because the wedding took place quickly under terms of the bride's visa.

Unfortunately, many international viewers saw only blank screens, possibly due to problems with Internet service providers, the groom said. Some in the U.S. also could not watch the ceremony because of firewalls on computer systems at their workplaces.

"Out of three dozen tests in different countries around the globe . . . we have only hit that problem two or three times," he said. "It's the exception; it's not the rule."

The Roehslers paid $30 for the webcasting service and $20 for a DVD of the ceremony.

Private companies typically charge $350 to $600 to webcast a wedding and archive it for 30 days of online viewing. All couples need is a video camera, a computer and Internet access. Asking a company to take care of videography and computers increases costs to up to $2,000, which may not include travel expenses.

Even though couples can now have their event webcast with relative ease, couples still do not think of the service unless they have loved ones who cannot attend, said Ariel Andres, owner of WebcastMyWedding.net in Dallas.

"Webcasting a wedding is not on that to-do list yet," said Andres, who averages three or four wedding webcasts each month. "But what's happening is more and more people are thinking about who can't make it, and that's when they start thinking about webcasting."