Hello there, dear cyber friends! Thanks for your visits when I was away for a couple of days to attend a Thai friend's wedding in the beautiful province of Krabi in the south. As I promised, I'll be posting about the Thai traditional wedding ceremony I've attended for the first time all throughout. I witnessed one before but only at the reception, not the traditional rites. First of all, I'd like to point out a few things I like best about Thai weddings. In most cultures I've known, gifts of any kinds (unless specified as money tree/box is preferred) are given to the couple but in Thai, most invited guests give money as present. Why I say I like this practice is that, the couples can decide well as to what things they consider necessary for them to use or buy their money for. They may use the money to start up a business or just save it. They can also avoid acquiring duplicated items because gift givers can't guess what others may give. It's also beneficial for the guests as they don't have to bother what items to buy and wrap and no hassle for carrying just money.
Invited guests use the invitation card envelope to put the money in to drop in this gift box. A souvenir is given to the guests after handing in their cash gift.
Another part of the Thai traditional wedding I like most is the paying of respect to the couple's elders - usually parents and grandparents of both sides - where the elders give their blessings to the new couple in return.
Symbols of love such as wedding ring and necklaces are also given to each other like in other cultures.
And an exciting part of the wedding ritual is when the groom, together with his family, enters the bride's house with the dowry to give. He will go around the house to look for his bride. After that, the formal ceremony begins.
After the rituals, a wedding banquet is held for all the invited guests. This time, the bride and groom wear the international wedding outfits - gown and suit. I like the Thai wedding garments though.
Doesn't my friend look so beautiful with her Thai wedding dress? Keeping one's good culture like the wearing of one's cultural identity is impressive. After the wedding rite, the newly pronounced husband and wife take photos with family and friends.
Aren't they so sweet and a lovely couple?
In different cultures, most special occasions like wedding end up with a festive partaking of food. Thai-Chinese food was served at my friend's wedding banquet. This one is spicy lemon grass salad, one of my favorite Thai appetizers. Of course, something different is interesting.
