Evening Party
The wedding reception or party often starts around 6.pm. with the bride and bridegroom greeting guests as they arrive. There may be a book to sign wishing the couple good luck and the guests will present a gift (normally money in an envelope) to the newly-weds and may have their photo taken with the couple. Around 7.pm. guests will sit down to eat and approximately 45 minutes or an hour later, the Master of Ceremonies (MC) will stand. The MC can be a good friend of either the bride or the groom or he could be somebody hired especially for the event. The MC calls the newly-weds to the floor and the parents of the groom will present the couple with a wedding flower. At Thai weddings there is often a guest of honour and they will be called next to make a short speech to wish the couple well. The guest of honour can be a relative of the bride or groom or they may be somebody who is well respected in the local community. The speech will be short and sweet followed by a toast to the newly-weds. The MC takes over again and may tell a few jokes or humorous stories before interviewing the bride and groom.
The bride and groom cut the wedding cake and show respect by serving their parents, senior relatives and the guest of honour. The couple will then mingle with guests for photos. At this point, friends of the groom are often keen to raise a toast to him which he should reciprocate. Fortunately, it is acceptable for the groom to sip his drink when being toasted and he doesn’t have to down it in one go! The party will have much drinking and dancing and as Thais like to have ‘sanuk’ the event is usually a great social occasion. The party may finish officially around 11p.m but it isn’t unusual for party-goers to continue the celebrations at a nearby karaoke bar. The bride and groom will probably be exhausted at this stage after such a long day and such an early start, but they may have one more surprise awaiting for them before they can go to sleep.