Wedding Costs

[mr_hippo]

I keep reading here about how much a wedding costs but who had the cheapest?

[spot]

Not sure what you mean...

If you mean the cost of the wedding 'ceremony' ...?

Ours cost around 30,000 for the photographs, which you get done before the ceremony, to show at the ceremony - and 35,000 for the hotel (100 guests). This included, cake, food, ice carving, staff etc. They did a very good job.

We also had a video presentation made of old/new/wedding photographs (very nice too) set to original music written especially for us, for 8000, to show at the ceremony.

The guests all put money in envelopes when they came to the ceremony, which came to around 120,000.

My wifes family didn't ask for a dowry, but we gave the 120,000 to them anyway.

Hope this helps

[solent01]

Agree with spot, but at the end of the day it can cost a little, or a lot, its up to your style really.....

[mr_hippo]

I'm just talking about ceremony, clothes, reception and any added ectras but excluding dowry. Spot has chipped in with 73,000 Baht - anyone cheaper? I'll reveal mine later!

[solent01]

Mr hippo, are you talking about a village wedding? How big is your village etc etc.

[spot]

Our was in Bangkok by the way.

At one of the Riverside hotels, so to me, it wasn't too much.

The outfits for the ceremony night were included in the Photograph package.

[mr_hippo]

My wedding was five years ago in Bangkok. Without revealing what mine cost yet, I was seeing if there were posters whose costs were similar to mine.

[Jockstar]

My wedding was five years ago in Bangkok. Without revealing what mine cost yet, I was seeing if there were posters whose costs were similar to mine.

10,000 baht?

[h90]

I paid: 6 pizza and arround 10 beer.

[rgs2001uk]

total cost 10,000 baht, in bkk

that included, temple in the morning, envelopes for the monks.

party at wifes mothers house that evening, all food prepared by inlaws, beer and whisky etc.

wedding outfit for the wife, thai style skirt and white blouse.

no sin sot was paid and none was asked for, no gold changed hands either.

makes me laugh when i hear about the ridiculous amounts being paid, my wife and her mother told me that 10k was too much, they didnt give a toss about face either.

[solo siam]

I got a great deal here in Phuket, it was at Layan in a hotel overlooking the beach and consisted of;

Proper Thai Wedding Ceremony

Flowers

Drummer guys

Monks

Thai Dancing

Planting a Tree

Bottle of nice Champagne

Hotel Suite (very nice)

Wedding Cake

Buffet Dinner for 40-50 people

Photography and Framed Photos

for just under 50,000 baht, they also included all the envelopes for me to give the monks, dancers etc...

The food was great, Thai fusion with some ingenious dishes. Couldn't have been happier, they organised everything including picking myself and the bride and families up etc...

[sonicdragon]

Mine was free. neither of us wanted the temple ceremony or after-party. We just registered at the amphur in samut prakan. The lady at the amphur wanted us to pay 1000baht because I was farang. my wife went nuts and asked to see it in writing. The lady backed down very quckly and we didn't even have to pay the usual 40 baht :-)

[Donz]

My Reception was in Newtown, I just hired the Top floor os one of the resturants, I had to jam nearly 100 people in there, I just paid for food and told everyone to bring there own Drinks.

After it we all went to Star Bar in the city.

Only cost me a couple of grand. But Im having another in Thailand Her father will be spending alot, A few celebraties and polititions will be there.

He is like a show off and wants his friends to think he has all this money, I think he is an ######, but it should be good

[dave111223]

Had my wedding in Rayong, costs for photos, clothes, flowers, morning monk ceremony/food, afternoon western ceremony and reception for 300 at beach resort: about 150,000

I paid dowry of 100,000 covered most of the above costs, then guests brought in around 250,000 baht. In the end i got the dowry back plus about 30,000 (Rest went to "Mum").

Edited March 11, 2007 by dave111223

[Thumchok]

Let you know after the ceromony on the 16th . 300 invitations sent out so I am expecting it to be up there amongst the top .

I don't believe that budgeting for a wedding will give you the day that will stay in your thoughts forever . But that's my opinion .

BTW I witnessed a young Brit getting married in Pattaya and held the reception in a bar there and the following visit ( About 1 month later ) she was working again.

Plan the wedding , Give yourself some time to know each others traits and all the best for the future . It's a gamble no matter what nationality either partner are from . I hope you have found a keeper , and I hope that you realise it .

Cheers ,

Jim .

[dave111223]

I don't believe that budgeting for a wedding will give you the day that will stay in your thoughts forever . But that's my opinion .

How are you supposed to not budget for a wedding?

Don't bother looking at prices and just wait til you get the bill at the end? And this is your advice?

[gummy]

I don't believe that budgeting for a wedding will give you the day that will stay in your thoughts forever . But that's my opinion .

How are you supposed to not budget for a wedding?

Don't bother looking at prices and just wait til you get the bill at the end? And this is your advice?

Its like a Rolls Royce, if you have to ask how much then you can't afford it. You should be wanting to marry through love. Her family will know that and if they understand then rest assured you have no need to worry. But back to financials which appear more inportant to you. Lets assume you would like to give a Dowry of 300,000, the envises by the way is on what you would like to give, plus say photos, party for 300-400 etc. etc then that will only cost you another 200,000 tops. Ignoring any money you get back from wedding gifts, that is only 500,000 baht. Very cheap by Western standards and the kudos gained will last a lifetime. Also and more importantly, by giving a dowry you will have peace of mind that you have helped your new wife's parents which is far more important than considering you are "buying" a wife.

Edited March 11, 2007 by gummy

[bendix]

I've just been through this myself. We had a big party at one of the five star hotels in town - by the pool area. We had two main costs - an organiser who took care of everything from cake, arrangements, clothes, flowers, photography, video etc and the hotel costs for heaps of food and booze. We also hired three cocktail makers from Bed Supperclub to make different cocktails to give some variation on the drinks.

Great night. Total cost (for a party for around 110 people) was around 260,000. This, of course, was offset by the 'envelopes'.

No sinsod involved.

[h90]

I don't believe that budgeting for a wedding will give you the day that will stay in your thoughts forever . But that's my opinion .

How are you supposed to not budget for a wedding?

Don't bother looking at prices and just wait til you get the bill at the end? And this is your advice?

Its like a Rolls Royce, if you have to ask how much then you can't afford it. You should be wanting to marry through love. Her family will know that and if they understand then rest assured you have no need to worry. But back to financials which appear more inportant to you. Lets assume you would like to give a Dowry of 300,000, the envises by the way is on what you would like to give, plus say photos, party for 300-400 etc. etc then that will only cost you another 200,000 tops. Ignoring any money you get back from wedding gifts, that is only 500,000 baht. Very cheap by Western standards and the kudos gained will last a lifetime. Also and more importantly, by giving a dowry you will have peace of mind that you have helped your new wife's parents which is far more important than considering you are "buying" a wife.

Dowry of 300.000

500.000 cheap by western standards???

Where is your western country?

All my friends, all academics and wealthy in Farangland, noone spent 500.000 on marriage.

[h90]

total cost 10,000 baht, in bkk

that included, temple in the morning, envelopes for the monks.

party at wifes mothers house that evening, all food prepared by inlaws, beer and whisky etc.

wedding outfit for the wife, thai style skirt and white blouse.

no sin sot was paid and none was asked for, no gold changed hands either.

makes me laugh when i hear about the ridiculous amounts being paid, my wife and her mother told me that 10k was too much, they didnt give a toss about face either.

My wife is still shocked from the "kwai farang" who pay 100-200.000 Baht for the parents.

She tells me that it was already old old old fashion when her parents married and they didn't do it.

But if it is done for tradition the money will be returned on the next day as a present or somewhere very outside in Ban Nok they may buy gold for the wife as security if you leave her.

[dave111223]

I don't believe that budgeting for a wedding will give you the day that will stay in your thoughts forever . But that's my opinion .

How are you supposed to not budget for a wedding?

Don't bother looking at prices and just wait til you get the bill at the end? And this is your advice?

Its like a Rolls Royce, if you have to ask how much then you can't afford it. You should be wanting to marry through love. Her family will know that and if they understand then rest assured you have no need to worry. But back to financials which appear more inportant to you. Lets assume you would like to give a Dowry of 300,000, the envises by the way is on what you would like to give, plus say photos, party for 300-400 etc. etc then that will only cost you another 200,000 tops. Ignoring any money you get back from wedding gifts, that is only 500,000 baht. Very cheap by Western standards and the kudos gained will last a lifetime. Also and more importantly, by giving a dowry you will have peace of mind that you have helped your new wife's parents which is far more important than considering you are "buying" a wife.

Who are you kidding? Party for 300-400 with "No expense shared" is going to run you alot more than 200,000 baht.

200,000/400 persons is 500 baht a head, and this is your Rolls Royce of weddings?

If you went and booked up a receiption at top class 5 star for 400 people paying no attention to price at all, i'm sure you could hit 1million baht.

[autonomous_unit]

Maybe we qualify with the least expensive wedding...

We were married in the US, so our only expense in Thailand was a taxi ride to the amphur office to register the pre-existing marriage, giving us local Thai documentation we needed for some other bureaucratic activities. I think there was a "copy fee" but it was much smaller than the 200 baht taxi ride (round trip).

The US wedding was more expensive... we must have spent $100 US or so, including the marriage license and some fuel for the car... Our honeymoon involved several tanks of fuel, a national parks pass, a camping stove, and a peaceful cabin in the woods (Sierra Nevada in California). I am proud that we pulled off an almost perfect anti-wedding.

[mr_hippo]

Maybe we qualify with the least expensive wedding...

We were married in the US, so our only expense in Thailand was a taxi ride to the amphur office to register the pre-existing marriage, giving us local Thai documentation we needed for some other bureaucratic activities. I think there was a "copy fee" but it was much smaller than the 200 baht taxi ride (round trip).

The US wedding was more expensive... we must have spent $100 US or so, including the marriage license and some fuel for the car... Our honeymoon involved several tanks of fuel, a national parks pass, a camping stove, and a peaceful cabin in the woods (Sierra Nevada in California). I am proud that we pulled off an almost perfect anti-wedding.

$100 + 200 Baht - still too expensive!

[quiksilva]

The average cost of a wedding in the UK these days is 12,500 pounds.

We had ceremony at ML Kukrits House in the morning followed by 150 people with all the bells and whistles in a 4 star hotel, for THB 150K, but we made a profit of THB 40K thanks to the envelopes, so does that qualify as the cheapest? hehe

But then again we followed that up with a Christian Wedding on the beach in a 5 star resort in Koh Samed, which cost the same but for only close friends and immediate familly (50 people) so perhaps not but it was nice (pic below)

Edited March 12, 2007 by quiksilva

[autonomous_unit]

$100 + 200 Baht - still too expensive!

Tell me about it! We've been together almost nine years now, and it seems I may never earn my freedom...

[Thumchok]

I don't believe that budgeting for a wedding will give you the day that will stay in your thoughts forever . But that's my opinion .

How are you supposed to not budget for a wedding?

Don't bother looking at prices and just wait til you get the bill at the end? And this is your advice?

Ok , go to your Consulate and get a certificate of elligibilty to marry ( around 1200baht at the Aust embassy ) , Have it translated into Thai , Go to an amphur office and register the marriage . Should be able to get it done for less than 3000baht including taxis .

Ceremony and Sinsot are a variable cost so , that is up to you and her family .

Hire of wedding outfits for yourself and the bride around 2000 baht .

Haven't arranged anyone for Photography and am just thinking everyone will take photos and share at the end .

300 invites , so looking at around 1000 guests . Local food will be one Cow Approx 20,000baht, a couple of Pigs around 3000baht each, Chickens are cheap , but allow 1000 baht . Allow another 1000baht for vegetables from the local market . The family are rice farmers , so the rice will be free .

A couple of cases of Seasip , and a dozen or so cases of Chang beer . I believe 10,000 baht should cover the drink costs .

Add sinsot and gold , and paying the younger family members to wash your feet ( Only heard about this the other day )

I have also purchased a gas BBQ and some sausages and hamburgers for the Falangs .

The family and friends will do all the cooking and meal preparations .

Wedding rings 10,000 baht , engagement ring you should have allready purchased .

Any money given in envolopes or return of Sinsot will be a bonus and not counting the pennies before they are in my hand .

Largely you pay as you go , and obviously there are other costs that I have forgotten about . I think from memory that a catererers back home charge around 25 Aud/head .

BTW , this started out supposedly as a small ceremony . I am sure that we will have a great day that we will remember for years . That's what counts , not the cost .

Hope it helps ,

Jim .