In recent years, Thailand has become one of the world's most popular travel destinations for weddings and honeymoons. Many couples choose Thailand because they wish to tie the knot in a land renowned for its sense of grace and style, following customs and ceremonies with rich roots in Buddhist culture. Others are lured by the Thai penchant for celebration, and their legendary capacity for sanuk – fun and enjoyment.Whatever their inspiration might be, visitors are spoilt for choice when it comes to Thailand's geographic diversity, ranging from the radiant hills of northern Thailand to the romantic islands dotting the Andaman Sea to the west, and the Gulf of Thailand in the east.
When it comes to accommodation, Thailand is unbeatable, offering everything from boutique inns inspired by traditional Thai architecture to secluded, all-inclusive resorts. Thailand's fresh-flavoured, vibrant cuisine adds further incentive for newlyweds and honeymooners, whether they enjoy the sumptuous seafood of the south or the spicy delicacies of the north.
Wedding planners – either independent or affiliated with tourist hotels and resorts – offer highly personalised services in choosing and arranging the most appropriate activities and events for each client's taste and budget. Whether arranging for traditional Thai wedding costumes and ceremonies or more contemporary, custom-designed wedding events, these professionals are adept at laying the groundwork for a romantic and memorable occasion.
When one considers that all of this comes at prices that represent among the best value available anywhere in the world, it's no wonder more couples are choosing Thailand for their matrimonial plans.
Tying the Knot in Thailand
In most parts of the country, once a couple has decided they would like to marry, the groom-to-be will ask a close friend to approach the prospective bride’s father and request her hand.
Once the woman’s father has agreed to the marriage, the couple’s respective families, with the help of a Thai astrologer, will choose an auspicious date for the ceremonies. Even-numbered months are preferred since the Thai word for ‘even’ (khoo) also means ‘couple’, and Thais believe marrying in such months assures the matrimonial bond will endure.
June is the most popular month for Thai weddings because it traditionally marks the beginning of the rainy season and thus represents fertility. Whichever month is chosen, the weeks of the waxing moon (when the orb appears to grow in size in the night sky) are considered more auspicious than the period when the moon is waning (shrinking). The lunar phases are thought to bring prosperity and brightness.
For Buddhist Thais, who are in the large majority, the marriage ceremony customarily takes place at the home of the bride's family, a tradition known as wiwamongkhon. The evening before the wedding day, the bride's family will host a wan suk dip (‘raw/ripe day’) gathering for the couple's close friends and family.
Around dawn on the wedding day, the couple dons traditional Thai wedding attire, varying in elegance according to the budget involved. Thus properly attired, the couple receives a number of Buddhist monks at the bride's home and offers them alms in the form of a sumptuous meal. After they have eaten, the monks chant religious verses blessing the couple and the upcoming matrimonial rituals.
Much of the rest of the day involves the groom's presentation of a dowry to the bride's family. Thai tradition divides the dowry into two. The primary dowry consists of betelnut, gold (or cash) and sweets to signify prosperity, along with beans, sesame seeds and unhusked rice to represent fecundity. Added to these commodities are bunches of flowers selected for their evocation of love and longevity.
Bundled in pairs to reinforce the aforementioned khoo (couple) theme, these items are artfully arranged atop an ornate, gold-coloured metal khan maak (betelnut bowl). On the morning of the wedding day, the groom, accompanied by an entourage of friends and family, carries the khan maak to the bride’s house in a joyous procession.
Male friends of the groom carry a secondary dowry of banana trees and sugarcane stalks to be planted at the bride’s family home. These are intended to provide food for babies produced by the marriage. Liquor and food delicacies may be added to the offerings as gifts to the bride’s father and uncles.
One member of the wedding parade slings a long drum across one shoulder and beats out a lively rhythm to encourage participants to dance and sing the ramwong klawng yao (‘long drum dance’) throughout the procession.
Arriving at his future wife’s family home, the groom visits the bride’s room to collect his betrothed, en route passing through two to four symbolic gates consisting of gold and silver chain belts suspended across his path. When the groom passes the final ceremonial gate, female relatives of the bride signify his acceptance by sprinkling his feet with water.
Once the bride has joined the groom, the couple kneel on a ceremonial dais, while bending forward with their arms outstretched and their hands held in the traditional palms-together position.
At this point, a respected male elder in the community performs a series of Brahmanic rites originating from pre-Buddhist Southeast Asia. First he extends saai sin, sacred white cotton string obtained at a local Buddhist monastery, between the couple’s heads and wrists to join them together symbolically. Sumptuous flower garlands are hung around their necks and dots of fragrant flour paste applied to their foreheads.
The elder then offers a few wise aphorisms about marriage, perhaps accompanied by a Buddhist verse or two, and performs the all-important rot nam sang ritual, pouring holy water from a conch shell over the couples outstretched hands. Other wedding guests – beginning with the oldest and proceeding to the youngest – then take turns anointing the couple’s hands in the same way.
At this point, the wedding ceremony is concluded, leaving the couple to rest and to prepare for an evening reception party. Around seven that evening, the families host a feast for invited wedding guests along with friends and relatives who may not have attended the ceremonies earlier in the day. Along with copious amounts of delicious Thai food, the evening consists largely of music entertainment, whether traditional Thai folk music, modern Thai pop or karaoke.
Although the basic themes are similar, outside of Bangkok and central Thailand various regional variations bring added flavours to Thai weddings.
In northern and northeastern Thailand, friends and neighbours of the wedding families will fashion an elaborate ceremonial mountain using banana-leaf ‘peaks’ on which are hung short lengths of bai see (cotton thread blessed by Buddhist monks). The shape of the offering signifies Mount Meru, the centre of the universe in Hindu-Buddhist cosmology. Wedding guests will take turns tying the bai see in loops around the couple’s wrists, to add their blessings for the marriage and to bind beneficent spirits from nature to the couple.
Northern, or Lanna, Thai weddings tend to be more graceful, serene occasions, reflecting the gentle, soft-spoken nature of the people there. Some Lanna weddings will include a kaat mua or impromptu gathering of food vendors as part of the wedding feast.
During Thailand's peak as a teak producer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, wealthy families in the northern city of Lampang devised a grand alternative for the khan maak procession. Instead of approaching the venue for the wedding ceremony on foot, the bride and groom would mount a lavishly decorated tusker, Thailand's most auspicious animal and indispensable hauler in the timber industry. As teak became more scarce and logging was banned, the tradition all but died out.
Every Valentine's Day (14 February), however, the city of Lampang now revives the elephant-back wedding ceremony. Couples are invited to don full Lanna costume and hoist themselves up on elephants for a stately pachyderm pageant at the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in nearby Hang Chat district. The lucky couples and their guests are welcomed to the centre with Lanna music and dance, followed by the traditional wedding ceremony.
Thailand’s large northeast is known as Isan, and weddings there tend to be more lively and upbeat, featuring a larger measure of music and dance than the weddings of other regions in Thailand. Mo lam, a rambunctious and bawdy style of music indigenous to the region in which male and female singers trade witty, improvised repartee, is a popular part of the evening entertainment.
More contemporary re-interpretations of the Thai wedding continue to unfold in 21st-century Thailand. Scuba enthusiasts, for example, can now arrange for matrimonial proceedings several meters below the sea off the coast of Trang Province in southern Thailand.
In a further demonstration that love in Thailand knows few geographical limits, Chiang Mai, cultural capital of northern Thailand, has begun hosting wedding ceremonies aboard hot-air balloons floating several hundred metres above the ground.
Many pleasure in wedding's Guest book
My many thank for all hardwork, dediction, professionalism, Above all, your sincerety towords making our wedding a "Brilliant" and "Wonderful" memories ever. We appreciate your services and we look forward for the future your hotel - Rose garden
Your sincerely with here,
Roman & Maliwan
Thank you very much indeed for you good supported, well organized, made our wedding like fairy-tale. Your professional job make our guests are very happy & funny. Hope you have successfully for your job and have lots of guest. Thank you again for your hard job that you have done to us
Regards,
P'Odd & P'Tick
Jan 7, 2007
Gorgious! Here's the most wonderful and memorable wedding we could ever ask for. Our guests were very happy and everyone really had a good time. All the staffs and most of the Thai people we met were incredibly kind and helpful to us. The atmosphere was so beautiful like in a fairy-tale. We will cherish our memories of the good times we had in Thailand and look forward to returning again soon, maybe for our anniversary!
Sincerely yours,
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Tourism Authority of Thailand : http://www.tourismthailand.org
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