Getting Married ( The cost)

[Darkside Gray]

The cost of getting the paperwork done at the local government office and the petrol to get me there and back!

[Pedrogaz]

I'd say 150-250K depending on number of people at around 1000 baht per head, music 25K, priests (depends on how many, Booze depends pn how many etc.

 

We just did a cheapo monk initiation for a nephew which cost about 175000 gross....but I demanded the envelopes and got 87000 back.

[jomtienisgood]

On 11/15/2020 at 11:27 AM, robblok said:

Does it not depend on the number of people you invite the venue you choose and stuff like that. I think you should give an idea about that first.

e.g. Marriage party in 2000, village welcomed, family, approx 80 pax, 3 days, +/- 60000Thb, divorce after 16 years, 100Thb and dinner. 

[thaibeachlovers]

7 minutes ago, Pedrogaz said:

I'd say 150-250K depending on number of people at around 1000 baht per head, music 25K, priests (depends on how many, Booze depends pn how many etc.

 

We just did a cheapo monk initiation for a nephew which cost about 175000 gross....but I demanded the envelopes and got 87000 back.

Did you give them fine wine and caviar?

I gave my Thai family 60,000 for a funeral and it fed the village for 3 days and fine presents for the monks.

 

Methinks when a Thai family acquires a farang ATM they dance with glee and think of all the face they will get from spending his money.

 

[gamini]

On 11/15/2020 at 10:13 AM, jonny5 said:

Just seeing to all the people who have got married, how much did you pay in total for all?

And if you have a rough breakdown that would be great.

 

TIA

 

It really depends on who you're married to. If you are married to a lower class or middle-class girl you would be expected to pay. If the girls family are poor you should willingly pay more. Most upper-class Thais would probably pay for the wedding. But then very few farangs marry upper-class Thais.  My friend married a cabinet ministers daughter and another married a general's daughter and it was them who paid for everything and of course gave a huge reception.  In my case a high-ranking Prince paid for all of our marriage expenses, and big reception in a Palace.

[ChrisKC]

Wedding dress 1,000

Reception          7000

Rings                  8000

 

Yes, in Baht

 

A very nice wedding dress (purchased), suitable for my real lady

Reception in a really nice Restaurant who took fantastic care of us and 15 special Guests. Including B1,000 as a tip. International cuisine

Two purpose-designed wedding rings made and re-sized from two older ones.

 

We were very happy with our day and for two and a half years since then, we both feel lucky for each other!

[gamini]

It really depends on who you're married to. If you are married to a lower class or middle-class girl you would be expected to pay. If the girls family are poor you should willingly pay more. Most upper-class Thais would probably pay for the wedding. But then very few farangs marry upper-class Thais.  My friend married a cabinet ministers daughter and another married a general's daughter and it was them who paid for everything and of course gave a huge reception.  In my case a high-ranking Prince paid for all of our marriage expenses, and big reception in a Palace.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, gamini said:

If you are married to a lower class or middle-class girl you would be expected to pay. If the girls family are poor you should willingly pay more.

Speak for yourself. My Thai family may have wanted me to pay for a village wedding but if so they had to make do with nowt.

No way I was paying for a load of people I never knew to get drunk at my expense.

 

I wouldn't have paid for the funeral either except they conned me into thinking it was a loan. Never made that mistake again.

[ChrisKC]

2 hours ago, Darkside Gray said:

The cost of getting the paperwork done at the local government office and the petrol to get me there and back!

Hope you were able to get a discount!

[EVENKEEL]

4 hours ago, brianthainess said:

getting married was the only thing I found in Thailand that was free. later We paid 20,000 for a new house 'party' catered for about 150 people+ monks and that included a karaoke. If you are lucky your guests will bring  the invitation along with cash inside the envelope, which could bring in a profit.

You want me to believe you paid 20,000bht for 150 people for booze, food, monks and karoke. That's 133bht/person. ahahahhaaaaaa

[khunPer]

Wedding costs?

About this much, plus some baht of gold, and a few big diamonds, and furthermore a couple of hundred thousand baht for a modest party...

 

More seriously it depends of any sin sot agreement; and if it's a village marriage, or a party in an expensive many-star hotel, or a beach marriage ceremony; and what kind of entertainment and fireworks to be included.

 

Your questions a bit like the length of a rubber band. The costs can be anything from a few ten-thousands baht, and up to several millions, just for the party...????

 

A village party, depending of number of guest, can easily be between 50,000 baht and 100,000 baht. Best thing is to ask your wife-to-be, what she – and her family – expects.

 

You might need to include some cash as sin sot – which might be for show only – to follow customs in the village ceremony, and for family face; the latter can be very important; talk to your wife-to-be is the solution...

[CM Dad]

It cost me about five hundred baht - about half for the government paperwork and the rest for a nice lunch for the two of us afterwards.  Neither she nor I wanted any kind of party and no family members were involved.  This was twelve years ago.

[Megasin1]

On 11/15/2020 at 4:32 AM, Peterw42 said:

Not sure if the OP is asking a catering question or a sinsod question. either way its the same answer as the proverbial piece of string

that's an easy one, twice the length from the middle to one end.....

9 monks (no elephants), about 100+ guests, beautiful and plentiful flower arrangements, free food, free drinks all day and late into the night with some karaoke and a band cost me about 2.5k £ with a sinsod of 7k in gold and cash, most of which was returned after the wedding (a small amount was retained to buy a connecting piece of land between wife's parents siblings which has subsequently been given to my daughter).....as many have said it all depends......btw I didn't ask for the sinsod back, however we were buying a house and the parents returned it, some people are just nice ????

[rumak]

7 hours ago, Surelynot said:

Marriage is like a hurricane........it all seems very warm, calm and cosy at first.....then suddenly your house has gone.

Why the heck get married ??    Just find someone you're gonna hate in five years...and buy her a house.

[CanadaSam]

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

80,000 is enough for a new m'bike which is a lot more use than giving the villagers a free feed.

 

He said this was 23 years ago, so in today's value, maybe 800,000!

[jastheace]

decide how much you want to spend/ lose. work back from there.

 

[Tagged]

After witnessed locals get married spending money they do not have, and thinking I would not spent that much myself, but it all comes down to the girl, the family, eduction, how much money you want to spend, and what add ons you want to have to entertain as well food and drinks. 

 

Up to you

 

just witnessed an older lady (40+ With kids) got her second sin sod, and it was a thai who married her. So, there is no rules, 

[HighPriority]

2018 village ceremony @ mums place up north east and about 30 guests.

I paid 10,000 Baht for family prep’d food and beer and lighter fluid.

We received about 5000 back from attendees.

can’t remember how much the translations and paperwork cost.

[jastheace]

41 minutes ago, HighPriority said:

and lighter fluid.

confused at first read.... got it now 555

[krabi local]

60k

negligible money at the Amphur for the legal paperwork.

wedding party for 60 people with food 25k (500 pp, kids free)

drinks for wedding party 15k

we bought the drinks from Makro and were charged 2k total corkage 

2 hand made gold wedding bands 15k

dress hire, invitations and wedding photos 3k.

 

then we were given 50k in cash instead of wedding gifts from friends and relatives who attended.

 

so actual cost to us was 10k

[PatOngo]

I do hope you'll slip ma and por a lazy million! ????

[talahtnut]

Surprisingly cheap 20 years ago, about 60/70Bht at town hall,

had enough money left over to buy a bottle of beer on way home.

[Damrongsak]

15 hours ago, Pilotman said:

... Add a Sin Sot of 70,000 to that cost, which her Papa  refunded to us the next week, less a 20,000 'administrative fee'.  He was a policeman after all. ????

Ah, you parked your money in the wrong spot for a week.  20,000 fine, no receipt.

 

We married 42 years ago.  I think I spent 10,000 baht for all the food, good booze, her dress, my suit, helpers and whatnot. We had the party at MIL's house. Exchange rate was about 21 baht/USD. 

 

We didn't really have a ceremony.  Fed the monks in the street early a.m., offered some fruit and flowers to a couple pictures of weird old (Vietnamese) relatives hanging on the wall, then a big sit-down dinner party for dozens of people in the evening.  MIL may have rented tables, but she had a big garage/warehouse room attached to the house.  Definitely low budget. Two of the siblings in the pic are now in the U.S.

 

Edited November 16, 2020 by Damrongsak

[thaibeachlovers]

6 hours ago, Tagged said:

After witnessed locals get married spending money they do not have, and thinking I would not spent that much myself, but it all comes down to the girl, the family, eduction, how much money you want to spend, and what add ons you want to have to entertain as well food and drinks. 

 

Up to you

 

just witnessed an older lady (40+ With kids) got her second sin sod, and it was a thai who married her. So, there is no rules, 

My rule on sin sod is it either all comes back or no wedding. If they say no wedding probably been spared the agro and the divorce.

[rumak]

1 hour ago, Damrongsak said:

Ah, you parked your money in the wrong spot for a week.  20,000 fine, no receipt.

 

We married 42 years ago.  I think I spent 10,000 baht for all the food, good booze, her dress, my suit, helpers and whatnot. We had the party at MIL's house. Exchange rate was about 21 baht/USD. 

 

We didn't really have a ceremony.  Fed the monks in the street early a.m., offered some fruit and flowers to a couple pictures of weird old (Vietnamese) relatives hanging on the wall, then a big sit-down dinner party for dozens of people in the evening.  MIL may have rented tables, but she had a big garage/warehouse room attached to the house.  Definitely low budget. Two of the siblings in the pic are now in the U.S.

 

 

back then ......... we really did look like "aliens"  as we strolled around the village

[bodga]

On 11/15/2020 at 10:13 AM, jonny5 said:

Just seeing to all the people who have got married, how much did you pay in total for all?

And if you have a rough breakdown that would be great.

 

TIA

 

About 300 baht for her two friends to  have an hour off work for the roadside food  celebrations  and to be witnesses...............2005

Breakdown

1  hour  off work

2 roadside food 

Total 300  baht

[vcpeters]

	Est		Actual
Dresses	฿12,000	$353	฿12,000
Monks  set Date	฿2,000	$59	฿2,000
Gay guys	฿12,000	$353	฿12,000
rings	฿1,500	$44	฿1,500
gold	฿45,000	$1,270	฿46,000
dowery	฿120,000	$3,529	฿120,000
Parking tractor	฿2,000	$59	฿2,000
music	฿18,000	$529	฿1,800
Saturday Party	฿30,000	$882	฿5,000
police	฿3,000	$88	฿3,000
Sunday Boos	฿20,000	$588	฿26,000
Drink	฿20,000	$588
Party gifts	฿2,000	$59	฿2,000
Emergency	฿5,000	$147	฿5,000
Sun  morn food	฿19,500	$574	฿27,400
Sun eve food	฿30,000	$882	฿36,000
Misc	฿6,000	$176	฿6,000
Power	฿5,000	$147	฿7,000
Cards	฿3,000	$88	฿3,000
Monks wedding	฿10,000	$294	฿12,000
total	฿366,000	$10,765	฿329,700	Total
				$9,697

[vcpeters]

Very disappointed in the poor responses to your question. Cost of dowry depends on family status, age of daughter, any kids, prior marriage, etc. Cost 5 yrs ago for me in Korat farm area about $10,000, 3 day event. Hope this is what you were trying to get.

 

[Pilotman]

8 hours ago, Damrongsak said:

Ah, you parked your money in the wrong spot for a week.  20,000 fine, no receipt.

 

We married 42 years ago.  I think I spent 10,000 baht for all the food, good booze, her dress, my suit, helpers and whatnot. We had the party at MIL's house. Exchange rate was about 21 baht/USD. 

 

We didn't really have a ceremony.  Fed the monks in the street early a.m., offered some fruit and flowers to a couple pictures of weird old (Vietnamese) relatives hanging on the wall, then a big sit-down dinner party for dozens of people in the evening.  MIL may have rented tables, but she had a big garage/warehouse room attached to the house.  Definitely low budget. Two of the siblings in the pic are now in the U.S.

 

great pic. I am happy to say that we had just one old retired Monk at our wedding. That's all that I was prepared to put up with. 

[jonny5]

3 hours ago, vcpeters said:

	Est		Actual
Dresses	฿12,000	$353	฿12,000
Monks  set Date	฿2,000	$59	฿2,000
Gay guys	฿12,000	$353	฿12,000
rings	฿1,500	$44	฿1,500
gold	฿45,000	$1,270	฿46,000
dowery	฿120,000	$3,529	฿120,000
Parking tractor	฿2,000	$59	฿2,000
music	฿18,000	$529	฿1,800
Saturday Party	฿30,000	$882	฿5,000
police	฿3,000	$88	฿3,000
Sunday Boos	฿20,000	$588	฿26,000
Drink	฿20,000	$588
Party gifts	฿2,000	$59	฿2,000
Emergency	฿5,000	$147	฿5,000
Sun  morn food	฿19,500	$574	฿27,400
Sun eve food	฿30,000	$882	฿36,000
Misc	฿6,000	$176	฿6,000
Power	฿5,000	$147	฿7,000
Cards	฿3,000	$88	฿3,000
Monks wedding	฿10,000	$294	฿12,000
total	฿366,000	$10,765	฿329,700	Total
				$9,697

 

Cheers Thats a breakdown....