Appropriate Thai Wedding Gift?

[Katia]

On 4/20/2018 at 8:30 AM, dotpoom said:

I wouldn't give money at home as a wedding gift and I wouldn't do it here either (especially if it was between 500-1000 Bt. as suggested earlier and considering the groom is English) I would consider that an insult. Part of the gift when you buy it is the fact that one took the time to actually go into a store and search something suitable out. Money just seems the "lazy man's" way of giving a gift.

   I have been to 3 weddings while living in Thailand and the grooms were Farangs. I gave exactly the type of gift I would give to a couple back home, usually something for their home....cannot for the life of me see where there is a problem when this subject crops up.

  Last time I gave a mid expensive juicer. Before that a nice crystal fruit stand....forget before that.

 

Whereas I enjoy money and gift cards because it means I (or the recipient) can buy something I (they) really want, rather than receiving something I (they) might not want and having to store it out of guilt... (but, grain of salt: I'm both someone who would be more likely to be excited about an off-the-wall gift than the standard thing someone might give, and I also already have too much stuff and don't need to have additional clutter of things I don't actually need/want...)

[MyFriend You]

Like you I knew the Thai bride for over 20 years, the groom only about five but I splurged on a Gold Plate, mind you, gold was only 240 an oz back then, but I figured if they ever fell on hard times, they could always sell it.  Cash is like water and goes thru the fingers faster than you can blink.

[tehmischi]

Hey guys,

 

I'm kind of having the same problem with the wedding gift. As this seems to be a bit complicated here's the backstory:

 

The bride and the groom are both Thai (around 35 years old), but are very international (travelling a lot, have quite a lot of money, university educated etc.). I've known the bride for about 7-8 years and she was my exchange partner in a student exchange we had in our Masters program in university ( I was in Thailand for a few weeks and she came to Germany for a few weeks as well).

I've been meeting her a few times since then when I was in Thailand or she was travelling in Europe.

 

Now the wedding will be held at a 5 star hotel (Mandarin Oriental) which I assume will be quite expensive. I don't really know the groom, but from what I can tell from our WhatsApp chats and her facebook posts he seems to be quite rich.

 

I don't know if cash is the right thing to give since they definitely have enough but on the other hand I have absolutely no idea what to do otherwise. If I choose cash what would be appropriate?

 

I would really appreciate if you could help me out :)

 

[Wake Up]

Went to wedding with Thai woman is Issan. She told me 100 to 1000 baht was the appropriate gift and 1000 baht would be a generous gift for good friend.  Was a mixture of village families that had little money and other working people that had good salaries.  

[Wake Up]

1 hour ago, tehmischi said:

Hey guys,

 

I'm kind of having the same problem with the wedding gift. As this seems to be a bit complicated here's the backstory:

 

The bride and the groom are both Thai (around 35 years old), but are very international (travelling a lot, have quite a lot of money, university educated etc.). I've known the bride for about 7-8 years and she was my exchange partner in a student exchange we had in our Masters program in university ( I was in Thailand for a few weeks and she came to Germany for a few weeks as well).

I've been meeting her a few times since then when I was in Thailand or she was travelling in Europe.

 

Now the wedding will be held at a 5 star hotel (Mandarin Oriental) which I assume will be quite expensive. I don't really know the groom, but from what I can tell from our WhatsApp chats and her facebook posts he seems to be quite rich.

 

I don't know if cash is the right thing to give since they definitely have enough but on the other hand I have absolutely no idea what to do otherwise. If I choose cash what would be appropriate?

 

I would really appreciate if you could help me out :)

 

Call the hotel concierges at the Mandarian hotel and they will give you a good answer.  They do these wedding many times and probably have information about the parents and bride to be and groom.  

[blackcab]

1 hour ago, tehmischi said:

I would really appreciate if you could help me out :)

3,000 baht would do. 5,000 if you're being generous.

[MuntyC0re]

I think that money is the best gift, the newlyweds will decide on its own on what to spend them