Wedding Costs

[Pudgimelon]

Just stumbled over this interesting thread doing a search...200 to 300 k for an upcountry wedding. I just wonder how Khun Somchai, earning some 5 to 6,000 a month, can ever get married? Can someone explain that to me?

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I can't believe someone dug up this old post. Anyway, here's your answer:

1) Extended family.

2) Lifetime of saving.

3) Living at home until you're 30.

Most Thai men know that they're going to have to fork over a lot of cash to get married, so they start saving for it as soon as they get a job.

Also, most Thai men live with their parents until they are married (and quite often, after they are married too), so they don't have the same kind of expenses a Western man their age has.

And finally, the Thai man can rely on a whole network of friends and family to help shoulder the burden of wedding costs.

For example, a great-Aunt might loan him the necessary baht-worth of gold to display at the ceremony. Or a few uncles might chip in to help pay for his Sin Sod. Or his mom and dad might purchase the house (or shack) he needs as part of the dowry. Etc....

Oh yeah, and the 200K to 300K price is probably at a "farang-discount", meaning that it probably is inflated over what a Thai man might have to pay (given that he and his family would be more likely to find good deals, get freebies from relatives, etc...).

Besides, if he's a good saver, he might be able to put away 500 to 1000 baht a month. After 8 to 10 years, that might be well over 100K in the bank, which--with the help of family--would be enough to get married.

It's also not uncommon for Thai couples to work together to save the necessary money for the wedding. A guy and a girl might get help from family to start up a roadside fruit stand and then work together at it, saving the profits to help pay for their eventual wedding.

[sierra01]

This is Thailand, why try to emulate an American wedding?

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I'm an American...... why wouldn't I want to emulate an American wedding?????

I didn't change my name to Somchai and dye my hair black when I moved here. I'm still an American, and it makes perfect sense for me to have American-style aspects (as well as Thai aspects) to my wedding ceremony.

After all, in order for a ceremony to have meaning, it should contain some cultural referents that are meaningful to the participants (including me), otherwise it wouldn't "feel" like a wedding ceremony.

Other than that the groom did wear a tuxedo, the bride wore a white dress, there was a cake, guests gave monetary gifts and ate food - but I just assumed that was typical for a wedding anywhere in the world. 

Yep. When Thai people include European traditions in their ceremonies, it's no different than when Americans include European traditions in their ceremonies. Both are copying traditions that originated elsewhere that may or may not still convey their original meaning (most don't).

We sometimes forget that Europeans have been in this region for hundreds of years. That's long enough for some traditions to "rub off" and become "Thai". Pizza and tacos are as "American" as apple pie, even though they may have originated from non-native ethnic groups. Likewise, the whole cake, white dress, and tux thing in a wedding ceremony is just as "Thai" as som-tom, even though they may have originated from a non-native ethnic group.

I asked a couple people and I think the average amount of money spent by those that were married hovered right around the 400,000 baht mark. 

Yep, some of my friends have spent more than that. It's all relative.

From what I observed, there was a substantial sum of money collected by the newly wedded couple from the attending guests, and I dont know if it would cover the cost of the wedding, but I am pretty sure the guests would not have been nearly as generous if they were fed chicken sate and whiskey with dancing girls floating around.  But hey that sounds like a ###### fun party to me!

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Heck yeah, that does sound like a great party, and if I wanted to throw a get-stinking-drunk ho-down that's exactly what I'd do. But like I said, my frat days are over.

A nice "boring" evening filled with pleasant conversation, good food, good music, and a few laughs is fine by me. I can get my kicks on my honeymoon, I don't need to put on a wedding that would give my fiance's grandparents a heart-attack to have fun.

To each his own, I guess.

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I didn't know America invented pizza, you learn something new every day!

[Khutan]

Just stumbled over this interesting thread doing a search...200 to 300 k for an upcountry wedding. I just wonder how Khun Somchai, earning some 5 to 6,000 a month, can ever get married? Can someone explain that to me?

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They can always try to borrow the money from a farang relative Not sure how much luck there is in that though.

My Up-country wedding cost me 15k. When the free booze stopped, they all went away, the guests that just wanted to stay around and talk + celebrate the day, I then found a box of Chivas.

I also played with the idea of doing a really big one, and it was going to top out at 200K, and that included getting a well known Thai band to play. (you know the one - the lead singer is in TV Commercials)

[a2396]

Certainly your expense sheet is not representative of every wedding...I would say it is representative of a very small percentage of Thai weddings, that percentage being the rich percentage.

The only thing traditional thai style about it is the giving of gifts (possibly) and the alcohol....I detect a lot of extravagance here

But it is your day and hers, and while these cost are out of most of our ranges, I do wish you luck on the day and for the future.

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Actually, it's not all that extravagent. In America, a wedding could easily cost at least $10,000 (400,000 baht) and that would be on the cheap side. I've heard of people chucking away $50K on a wedding in the States, and they are most definitely NOT "hi-so" people.

The way I look at it, is that I'm only going to get married once, and I've been looking forward to this day my whole life, so doing it up nice is part of the fun for me. I've chucked away almost as much money on my computer system (I custom built a 5|(|< |337 machine), and my fiance already refers to it as my "second wife", so I've got to out-do that or I'm in big trouble .

Also, a lot of those prices I quoted are actually discounted pretty heavily, because we have a lot of friends in the hotel and entertainment industry. We got 50% off the price for the hotel rental and buffet (and a lot of stuff like flowers and cake were thrown in for free). We got a sweet deal on the photos and dresses, and while the band is kinda expensive, they are actually pretty cheap considering they've got a record deal with RS Promotions and are quite well known in Thailand.

There are, however, hotels that do rent out at 450 baht per person, and you can find a good band to play a wedding for 4,000 or 5,000, and there are wedding package deals available at studios for 30K. They would not be the same type of things we got, but there would be options in those price ranges.

Having a magician at the party isn't a frivilous expense in my mind, because I'm a teacher and almost 100 people on my guest list are under the age of 10. So I think something to keep all those short people occupied is an absolute necessity.

A party of this type isn't out of anyone's range, really. I don't make any more or less than any other teacher in Bangkok (well, maybe a little more because I work 60-80 hours a week, but not much more). A few months of frugal living, some savings in the bank, and a couple of credit cards are all it takes to swing something like this.

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$50,000 US on a wedding? I guess so? Who says the gilded age is over. J.P. Morgan and the Vanderbilts would be right at home. No doubt in Newport or Palm Beach. In my lowly opinion, someone who spends this kind of money on a wedding should have thier head examined.

[Jockstar]

Well since i just got married in Chiangmai. Heres a rough guide of what i paid in baht. Remember its roughly.

Hotel package 5 star(includes cake, flowers, ice carving, soft drinks etc)- 70,000

Band- 15,000

Booze- 15,000 3 boxes whisky, 7 barrels of Tiger beer

Kilt,sporran and belt- 7000

Dress for missus- around 14,000 i think?

Rings white gold. Friend of the missus got a deal- 40,000

Small reminders- 16 baht times 300- 4800

So whats that in total? Lets see 165800 roughly. There was 250-260 guests at my wedding. As jackr and chuchok could tell you it was a big do and a great night. I may have forgot something from my list but these were the main things. The band were a six piece band that could play anything. They were not a wedding band. But far better. Rock and roll. ######ing awsome. Lets just say for what i paid out i made more back from friends and family. The farng made up about 40% of the people there. The Thais pissed off after the food but we still had about a hundred or so farang and the young Thais. All in all a great day. If you think what you would pay in the UK, Oz, Us or any western country the prices would be so high. Cant belive people get themselves in debt to pay for their wedding. I am lucky that i have some great mates and family who made an effort to be here from all over the world. Canada, Oz, Nz, South Africa, Ireland, England, Scotland, US,Wales,Norway the list of nationalities at my wedding was amazing. What a day. The best day of my life so far. I was and i am a very proud man. Hope it all works out for the OP and anyone else thats getting married soon. Enjoy every minute of it as it passes so fast.

[DavieA]

You got a bargin for all your doing Pudj. My aussie mate called last week and told me he will get in April next year. As its his 2nd wedding he didn't want anything to do with it, so left it up to his missus to make all the descisions.

Consequently he's kicking himself as he's still 6 months away from the wedding and she's clocked up nearly a AUD30K bill so far. When he found out he spat it. Now their relationship is close to breaking up.....all because of wedding plans.

Have a great day dude, congrats.

[raro]

Just stumbled over this interesting thread doing a search...200 to 300 k for an upcountry wedding. I just wonder how Khun Somchai, earning some 5 to 6,000 a month, can ever get married? Can someone explain that to me?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They can always try to borrow the money from a farang relative Not sure how much luck there is in that though.

My Up-country wedding cost me 15k. When the free booze stopped, they all went away, the guests that just wanted to stay around and talk + celebrate the day, I then found a box of Chivas.

I also played with the idea of doing a really big one, and it was going to top out at 200K, and that included getting a well known Thai band to play. (you know the one - the lead singer is in TV Commercials)

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...you mean you can get Carabao at less than 200k for a night? Or do you mean Loso? I might go for either band!