Pipo wrote a post today about our wedding, giving some details about preparation and costs, so I thought I’d do the same, but in English. You can see the wedding here https://youtu.be/ZJX2ayCCqD0.
What does a wedding to someone from Thailand involve, how stressful is it to plan and how much does it cost?
Pipo’s parents are modern-thinkers and initially said they weren’t interested in a dowry. What was most important for them was that we loved each other. But an uncle suggested it might look bad if there wasn’t one, so we settled on a small amount that was returned to us on the day.
That was about it in terms of pre-wedding discussions. After that, it was two months of heavy planning.
Pipo is a do-it-yourself enthusiast and as our budget was small we decided to hold the wedding at the family house in Ayutthaya, and to do as much as we could ourselves rather than use a wedding planner.
Pipo made her own wedding dresses (one traditional Thai, one traditional white, and two party dresses for good measure), she made my Thai outfit, and she did 99% of the decorations and floral arrangements (with help from family members the day before the wedding).
I helped out where I could, mainly carrying bags of plastic flowers or fabric, but also talking through the ceremonies and how it would all work on the day. I would say the only stressful thing for me was having to do all of this in Thai. Definitely good for vocabulary-building. It was the same on the wedding day. I was lost in a sea of Thai words that were only vaguely familiar to me. But part of the fun was trying to remember what to do next and when. Thai weddings are actually pretty relaxed (at least the ones I’ve been to) and no one’s going to blame you if you make a mistake.
We used a company called Goodgiftidea to do the ceremonial offerings, decorations and seating for the kaan maak, engagement ceremony, and rod nam sang ceremony. https://www.facebook.com/goodgiftidea/
Breakdown of costs for the morning in Thai baht:
Kaan maak ceremonial offerings, ceremony seating, rod nam sang 37,000
Thai bridal dress 5,000
Floral decorations for house and backdrop 10,000
Groom’s bouquet 600
Catering (5 dishes) for 160 people 20,000
Breakfast noodles for 160 people 6,000
Photographer 5,000
Video 10,000
Grand total 88,600
Photographers:
www.facebook.com/knowphotography
https://www.facebook.com/GiawGlong/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvyFt3qyMvwgGd-tn6mBidQ
FB: https://www.facebook.com/Pipo-diy-121503281200135/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/pipodiy/
