Our Thai Buddhist ceremony is set for 9 AM October 23rd. This means I’ll be “married” of a sort, in exactly 4 days 12 hours and 15 minutes as of this writing. But will I feel married until the western ceremony in November? Well that remains to be seen. Toi will no doubt, but it’s all … well … a little foreign to me.
The original plan was to have the Thai wedding right before we left in November, but the monks put the kibosh on that, because November is an odd numbered month and therefore not auspicious for weddings and such. So they consulted the monk almanac and October 23rd came tumbling out as the best possible “big day.” This wasn’t terribly convenient as it’s the last day of Toi’s internship at the Sheraton and a few days before her final exams, but you can’t argue auspiciousness with a monk. I’ll give you some insight into my wife, at first she said she wanted to have the wedding in the morning and then go to work that afternoon. I put the kibosh on that. So a deal was struck to have a very small, simple wedding on the 23rd and then a bigger reception/going away Party on Nov 12th.
I am still trying to get a handle on the exact wedding details, because it’s a very fluid plan in motion. I thought that monks would be running the show, but now apparently we just walk to the temple and give them some goodies to make merit, so we top off the “good luck” tanks prior to tying the knot, then we head back home alone. And they take this knot tying thing quite literally in Thailand. Toi’s mother who according to the new monk-less plan will now be officiating the ceremony will tie up Toi and me in a big ball of white yarn. Well actually, she’ll bind our hands together with white string that has been blessed at the temple.
Toi and I are foggy on what comes after this, but there is going to be some gift giving, but not the way I thought. We have to give all of our guests gifts,and the more important the person the better the gift! So who is going to be in attendance? When we moved up the date from Nov. to Oct., Toi’s mom suggested just immediate family, mom, bro and sis that’s it, but did it stop there… what do you think? Toi needed a couple of important people in her life there, and then they said, “but you have to invite _______ and how could you forget _______.” Good ‘ol mom and I were thinking alike, but now it’s totally out of control. Current estimates are somewhere between 10 and 40. The plan to have the ceremony at Toi’s house, which might hold 7 or 8, is completely blown. No one other than me now seems non-plussed by the lack of a plan, location, guest list, or feeding arrangements. I just want to do right by Toi and give her the kind of wedding that she has always pictured, trouble is she never had a camera so loose sketch might be more appropriate.
Oh well, “mai ben lai” as they say, which loosely translates to “don’t worry, be happy.”
Hysterical! Been there, done that! I was married about 6 months ago, in a Thai ceremony, and . . . it happened as you describe. It was my fourth! and definitely the BEST marriage I’ve ever had!! i just went along for the incredible ride. I definitely prefer not understanding a word or a thing that’s going on!!! I did understand that this beautiful, magnificent woman was actually hooking up with me, for life. And a few days later, after a short honeymoon, we went off to the amphur and signed on the dotted line. I’ll send you a link to my Yahoo!Photos Wedding Album
Congratulations! I also am preparing to marry a beautiful and wonderful lady from Thailand in the near future and I am concerned about all the paperwork involved and how long it will take for my beautiful bride to join me in the US. Perhaps you could calm my worries with a little information on how hard the process is. I appreciate any information on marrying a Thailand lady.