Couples By The Thousands Get Hitched On Valentine's Day

[Jai Dee]

Couples by the thousands get hitched on Valentine's Day

A sweet sentiment swept through the country yesterday as couples walked hand in hand to register their marriages, including an 89-year-old man and his 86-year-old bride.

In Bangkok, 2,553 couples tied the knot at district offices. Bang Rak as usual was the most popular with 665 couples following the belief that the district's name, which means "love", would make for a propitious start to their new lives together.

Another district in demand was Bang Sue because of its name of "honesty".

However, Valentine's Day was bitter for 36 Bangkok couples who filed for divorce.

All the Bang Rak newlyweds had the chance to compete for 10 gold marriage certificates. The office opened its doors at 8am with 140 couples already queued up, including the first pair who had arrived at 3am.

Boonmee Boonrangsi, 47, and Yanika Thongphet, 35, who came all the way from Chanthaburi and reached the office at 4am, were the first to win a prize including life insurance worth Bt1 million and a coupon for a free physical examination at Phyathai Hospital.

"I came here because I believed that the auspicious meaning of the district's name would make me lucky in love," Yanika said.

The district also hosted a mass wedding ceremony in traditional Thai style for 26 couples, including five from abroad.

Nakhon Ratchasima province hosted a group wedding joined by 68 couples, including the elderly, who had lived together without registering.

The eldest attendees there were Mak Charoensuk, 89, and Aui, 86, who decided to make their 60 years of matrimony legal with the support of their families.

Flower markets across the country were crowded and roses rang up the best sales throughout the day.

Narathiwat Ratchana-kharin Hospital joined with the Red Cross to visit schools and government service units in Narathiwat to solicit blood donations as a Valentine present for victims of the southern unrest.

Eighty couples exchanged their vows in an underwater group wedding ceremony off Trang before about 500 eyewitnesses.

The annual event was broadcast live on Channel 11 and the Internet. The diving couples released corallimorps, giant clams, shrimp and giant crabs as their contribution to preserving and increasing the population of marine creatures.

Traffic police in Chumpon handed out roses to drivers as part of a safe-driving campaign on lovers' day.

Source: The Nation - 15 February 2007

[camerata]

Traffic police in Chumpon handed out roses to drivers as part of a safe-driving campaign on lovers' day.

And traffic was diabolical in the evening. My valentine arrived an hour late for our dinner out.

[Barney_the_Dinosaur]

I did likewise 4 years ago, thinking that i'd escape from separate Valentine's Anniversary pressies.

WRONG !

I get to buy triple sized gifts instead. Yesterday a Lousi Vuitton bag with gold clasp for THB 20,000

[Jai Dee]

Just married couples from Thailand and other nations are driven in tricycles during a street procession Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2007, in Bangkok, Thailand, as part of Valentine's Day ceremonies.

Source: AP - 15 February 2007

[Jai Dee]

PRACHINBURI, THAILAND - Thai couples celebrate with their marriage licenses as they hang on the cliff during Valentines Day in Prachinburi province, eastern Thailand.

Seven couples celebrated the annual wedding on the cliff as part of the Valentines Day in Thailand.

Source: The Manager - 15 February 2007

[Jai Dee]

Thai couples mark Valentine's Day with elephant-back and cliff-side weddings

BANGKOK, Thailand: Thai couples marked Valentine's Day with weddings on elephant back and hanging off cliffs, while authorities warned young singles not to let the celebration of love lead them too far down the path of temptation.

Twenty-eight couples — 22 of them including a foreign partner — celebrated their love by getting married on the backs of elephants in Surin province in northeastern Thailand, reported the state National News Bureau.

The event, held at the Elephant Study Center, was billed as a way of securing good luck for the newlyweds. Elephants, virtually the country's national mascot, signify long and healthy lives.

Seven couples in Prachinburi province, east of Bangkok, celebrated tying the knot by rappelling off a jagged cliff amid cheers and screams from the family members and friends who watched from below, said the Web site of the newspaper The Nation.

For the young and unmarried, the country's Culture Ministry over the weekend issued what it called the "10 Commandments of Love" to encourage teens not to engage in sexual activities while under Cupid's spell.

Bangkok police were under instructions to crack down on "inappropriate" behavior by the youths, including public displays of affection. By day they patrolled "high-risk areas" such as public parks, shopping malls and restaurants, and after the sun went down, turned their attentions to nightclubs, bars and so-called love motels, which rent small rooms for short periods of time, said Police Lt. Vorawat Amornviwat of the Metropolitan Police Bureau.

There was no need for chaperones for the 26 romantic couples who took part in an outdoor group wedding ceremony near a crowded central business district of Bangkok. Five of the grooms were foreigners who came from England, Canada, New Zealand and the United States.

The brides, in pink traditional Thai costumes, were taken in bicycle carriages decorated with orchids and roses to a park where they waited for the grooms to arrive. The grooms came on foot, accompanied by a band of wind, string and percussion instruments, singing and dancing along with their families.

"It is a beautiful ceremony that we want to help preserve in an age where everything seems to become more and more Westernized," said Kanchanok Intarachom, one of the event's organizers.

As the grooms' parade arrived, pairs of children and young relatives blocked their way with silk ropes and gold threads symbolizing a barrier, an action that is part of the wedding tradition. To pass through, a "toll" of cash or small souvenir had to be paid.

Nine Buddhist monks blessed the newlyweds, who gave them alms. The ceremony ended with elders blessing the couples with holy water.

"All we needed to do was bring the ring and show up. Thai ceremonies are complicated to organize so this is perfect for us," said Nitinand Hiranchai, one of the brides.

Source: AP - 15 February 2007

[Jai Dee]

Newly wedded couples take part in a parade on tricycles after receiving marriage certificates on St. Valentine's Day in Bangkok February 14, 2007. Twenty-six couples on Wednesday went to the Bangrak (District of Love) government office to register their marriages.

Source: Reuters - 15 February 2007