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.
Preparing the Bridal Bed
This old-fashioned ritual does still take place in some places, particularly rural areas. Don’t be alarmed if you are led to the honeymoon suite to find an old couple sitting on your bed waiting to greet you! The idea is that an old couple are evidence of a long and successful marriage. Their knowledge and good luck is then imparted to the newly-weds in a number of different ways. They may say how lucky the bed feels hinting that the newly married couple will have children. Bags of rice and coins may be placed on the bed along with a number of other items all acting as symbols of prosperity and fertility. Tradition states that the newly-weds share their bed with these objects for the next 3 nights. You may be relieved to hear that the old couple don’t also stay in the bed for 3 nights!
Sinsod
Traditionally, what might be called a dowry is paid by the groom to the bride’s family. If your fiancée is Thai, this is an issue you may have to come to terms with and it is often a bone of contention for non-Thai men.