A village Thai wedding is unlike any western wedding you may have ever seen before. It is so much more relaxed and more fun then the tightly scripted ones that we are used to.
Generally if you are not family or close friends one person from each house in the village is also invited, this included us. Of course they quickly figured out that Seerung had access to the only camera in the village so was quickly asked to come along and I popped my head in as well for a bit of a look.
As I said in my previous post, the preparation had started 24 hours previously and continued on throughout the night with a cow being killed around midnight and then it had to be prepared. Family members and friends all came to help.
At sunrise the guests started to arrive. They would place some money in a bowl and then have their name and the amount of money given written in a book. The money is what they can afford and goes towards the cost of the wedding. The book is given to the parents of the bride so that for any future weddings that they attend they can make sure they give back at least the same amount.
Here are people arriving and having their donation recorded.
I named the welcoming committee biggles and blue santa.
Seerung had plenty of time to take some pics of the bride, her bridesmaids and her family as the groom was over 2 hours late!
*Edit* I forgot to mention when I first posted this to say that the bride is 15 years old and the groom is either 15 or maybe a year or two older according to my wife. *Edit*
With the groom so late (no idea why) everyone got stuck into the food.
Here are some photos of the preparation of it.
Nothing gets wasted, everything is eaten and I mean everything!
Someone has to do the washing up!
The groom finally arrived.
It is now time to get into the serious ceremonial side of things. Serious for the minister and the bride and groom but a riot of a time for the guests who laugh, tease, yell and generally have a great time while this is going on. Half the people crowded into her house while the rest (mainly men) hung around outside out of sight.
First things first, the sin sot. This is the money that the groom has to pay the parents of the bride for doing such a good job at raising her. The money varies depending on how wealthy the brides family and grooms family are. Whether or not the bride is a virgin or not etc etc. On this occasion it was 50,000 baht ($2,000 AUS) and 1 baht (15.2 grams) of gold. The money and gold is laid out for all to see and be counted.
Then the ceremony can start.
You don’t bring presents to a wedding in Thailand, it is all about cash. During and after the ceremony money is tied to the wrists of the bride and groom with string.
Once the ceremony is over everyone goes home. A few people hung around an helped clean up but basically by lunchtime things were very quiet. After all the parties over new year and then this wedding the village was extremely quiet last night.
5 responses so far ↓
Barb // January 6, 2009 at 11:16 am |
The groom is a bit of a looker, maybe he was late because he had to do his hair??
Great blog =)
mum // January 6, 2009 at 11:36 am |
Some good photos that Seerung took. How old were the bride and groom?
MeMock replied “Seerung thinks the girl is 15 and the boy would be 15 or maybe a year older or 2 max”
mum // January 7, 2009 at 2:26 pm |
Wow thats young – is that normal? Will they now live with familty, and if so, whose?
MeMock replied “Young yes, but not that unusual. It seems that there were spending a lot of time together and got a little too intimate hence the brides family called for a quick wedding to save face.”
Hammy // January 8, 2009 at 7:43 pm |
That’s just opened my eyes a lot. What an interesting custom.
Brunty // January 8, 2009 at 10:55 pm |
I will bet my bottom dollar that she is pregnant. This would be the reason why they are marrying at this age.
To have the baby out of wedlock, even if it is only the Thai village ceremony and not registered is a big loss of face.
If this is the case, the girl cannot study anymore. Being pregnant and studying is not allowed in Thailand.
If this isn’t the reason I would like to know why they married so young.
I was at a village where a 26 year old married a 14 year old as she was pregnant to him. It was wrong but Thai law and culture is different to ours.
MeMock replied “Hi Brunty, thanks for stopping by. I do know that they had been spending a lot of time together and therefore the local gossip is assuming that they are sleeping together hence the early wedding. Is she preggers? I doubt it but just the fact (if it is) that there were sleeping together is enough to force a wedding. I will revisit this post in 3 months time and let you know the outcome!”