UK couple wanting to marry in Pattaya - advice needed

[Missy1980]

Hi

We are coming over on holiday to Pattaya in August next year with our family and getting married.

Is it easy enough to do the legal paperwork in Bangkok ourselves? Or pay a company to help us go round and do it with us (they want £500 for this). We are both from Liverpool, England.

Also, can anyone advise on a good wedding package firm to contact? That you may have used yourself?

Some i have contacted already take a week to reply or no reply at all so im a little worried if any good.

Any help would be great

X

[laislica]

Why would you want to marry in Thailand if you are both British?

The Thais have two types of marriage, an informal one which is very romantic, Monks chanting and all that but it is not a "Recognised Marriage".

For a formal wedding you have to go to the town hall and marry in their equivalent of a registry office.

Not at all romantic but legal.

You will need affirmations of permission to marry from your embassy at about £60 each.

Pay your 20,000BHT to a company to translate them and get them stamped by the Thai min of foreign affairs.

Then you are taken to the town hall with your translator(s) and witnesses.

The procedure does not take long.

Then you will need to have the wedding cert and the associated paperwork translated to English, extra cost I think, plus more stamps from the Thai min of foreign affairs and the Brit embassy.

Takes time and costs.

Maybe better to investigate an informal wedding and marry formally at home?

[The Fat Controller]

My advice, get married at home and come to Thailand and have a big party here with your friends and family. it will cost peanuts compared to a reception in the UK.

The messing about with the documentation is a pain in the bum and quite costly if you pay someone to do it for you.

My wife(Thai) and I did it all ourselves and the total cost for a register office wedding and all documents and translations was under £200

We had a few issues with translations, luckily my wife's written English is very good so she spotted the mistakes.

If you do marry in Thailand, get translations of the certificate and registration, but these DO NOT need to certified by the British Embassy or legalised by the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

PS. Have you been to Thailand before? If not, be aware that getting things done can be frustrating to say the least and make sure your dates for doing things avoid any Buddhist or Thai national holidays of which there are many.

Edited November 16, 2014 by The Fat Controller

[Missy1980]

Hiya, thanks for the reply.

The reason we have chose to marry in Thailand is because we have travelled all over there over the years before we had our son a few years ago. We love it there and always said we would marry there one day as it means do much to us. Marrying back home is not what we want, especially as it will turn out to be a wedding for everyone else and not something small and intimate like we want.

We have English relatives and friends who have married over there too but their weddings have been organised by the travel agents and big hotels they contacted. Thats what im having a problem with though as not really getting replies from the companies im contacting.

Ive also read all forums on here and the step by step guide of doing legal paperwork ourselves for about £200.

The companies charging between £400-£500 basically take us to the offices were all the paperwork is to be done in 1-2 days, we then go to Pattaya and have wedding ceremony and then paperwork sent back to Bangkok to make marriage legal.

Ill keep looking online today and emailing companies and hopefully someone will reply soon x

[Lostpack3t]

Perhaps contact some of the more luxurious hotels here directly. They may have contacts with companies that facilitate this sort of event. As above, I would recommend getting legally married back home (perhaps after the trip to Thailand) but having a marriage ceremony here. Thats what I did back in 2000 getting "married" here but then returning home and conducting the required paperwork and ceremony to then apply for a marriage certificate. It just means you have to remember 2 wedding anniversaries. One the "real" emotionally attached date and the second the official date.

[ThailandLOS]

You don't need to hire a company to get married in the Pattaya town hall (Amphur).

All you need is documents from your embassy that you are both eligible for married (in English). Even better if you can arrange the paper at home since you are coming here on vacation only.

Talk to the people at the Amphur and they will do the paperwork for about 7000 THB in 2-3 days. They send it to Bangkok for legalization. Then you come back, get your Thai marriage certificate and are off to the wedding party.

Costs of 20.000 THB suggested by one previous poster for document translation I've never heard of. We paid 6000 THB for translation and legalization of the lot.

Here's the address for the local Amphur:

Amphur Banglamung
At: Moo 2, Sukhumvit Road , Tambon Na Klua, Amphur Banglamung, Chonburi 20150
Tel: 038 221 124

A taxi from central Pattya should get you there for 200-300 THB.

All the best and good luck with your wedding.

Edited November 16, 2014 by ThailandLOS

[shaurene]

Hi Mate

I am from Birkenhead, sorry. Just come and go to a local Ampure office and say you want to get married. Do not go with the advertised lot, load of shit.

Do not listen to the blogs here they do not know, as it has not happened to them.

Best of luck Scouse.

[Don Aleman]

You don't need advice, you need treatment - you're bringing a sandwich to a banquet !

[Thomas Hannah]

Im from liverpool..There is not much to getting married in thailand.,Its an office and translators,,Easy and

not expencive to have a party in the new plaza,They will get a band for you,and provide ,what ever food you want,,If i was ever to get married in thailand ,the way you are,,I would get married , paperwork done in bangkok,,Fly to krabi,And go get married church words in Ao Nang,,There is a very medium sized ,very beautifull catholic church there ,,And its a beautifull national park,,Stay for about 3 days,In ao nang,Then come back to pattaya and have party in new plaza.There are bars to the both sides of the new plaza.Just pick one..

[ukguyinthai]

Hi welcome to Thailand.Very romantic place to marry.come a 7 days early on your own.just to make sure its the right location.

[Tony125]

Why would you want to marry in Thailand if you are both British?

The Thais have two types of marriage, an informal one which is very romantic, Monks chanting and all that but it is not a "Recognised Marriage".

For a formal wedding you have to go to the town hall and marry in their equivalent of a registry office.

Not at all romantic but legal.

You will need affirmations of permission to marry from your embassy at about £60 each.

Pay your 20,000BHT to a company to translate them and get them stamped by the Thai min of foreign affairs.

Then you are taken to the town hall with your translator(s) and witnesses.

The procedure does not take long.

Then you will need to have the wedding cert and the associated paperwork translated to English, extra cost I think, plus more stamps from the Thai min of foreign affairs and the Brit embassy.

Takes time and costs.

Maybe better to investigate an informal wedding and marry formally at home?

No way it costs 20,000 baht for translations

[laislica]

Why would you want to marry in Thailand if you are both British?

The Thais have two types of marriage, an informal one which is very romantic, Monks chanting and all that but it is not a "Recognised Marriage".

For a formal wedding you have to go to the town hall and marry in their equivalent of a registry office.

Not at all romantic but legal.

You will need affirmations of permission to marry from your embassy at about £60 each.

Pay your 20,000BHT to a company to translate them and get them stamped by the Thai min of foreign affairs.

Then you are taken to the town hall with your translator(s) and witnesses.

The procedure does not take long.

Then you will need to have the wedding cert and the associated paperwork translated to English, extra cost I think, plus more stamps from the Thai min of foreign affairs and the Brit embassy.

Takes time and costs.

Maybe better to investigate an informal wedding and marry formally at home?

No way it costs 20,000 baht for translations

Correct.

The large sum is so the agent sends a mc across town and jumps the queue at the Thai min of foreign affairs to get the docs stamped. To provide witnesses and translator and take you to the town hall and complete the job in one day.

The OP mentioned £500 which translates to a sum more like 25,000 bht.

It is a lot and if you have the time it is cheaper to do it yourself but if you don't know the ropes it can translate into a very frustrating few days waiting in line to get docs stamped etc. not to mention tiring running around in a taxi!

Up to you as the excellent Thai saying goes, (I paid 20,000 a couple of years ago and never regretted spending the money).

People that I know who got married in Thailand were foreign men (Farang) who married a Thai lady.

They did the town hall job one day and had the monk type party at their house later.

Great if living there full time but I would guess a tad stressful to get it all done on a holiday.

A party at a mall sounds good.

I must admit that the Thai marriage certificate is very pretty though.

On that note, be sure that the translations have been properly certified so that they are useful back home.

You may need to show the certificate to the pensions department at some future stage.

The only reason for the translation is so that the document is useful back in your home country.

You need a certified translation.

You could try Google translate and DIY but I doubt if that would be accepted.

Get it right first time and then no worries in future.

(I suppose you heard about the chap who ended up with a parrot license instead of a wedding cert?) LOL

My dear old Mum used to say "Fools throw feasts, wise men come to enjoy them"

Up to you.

It's your very special day.

[MauiSteveBKK]

FUN MARRIAGE IN THAILAND!

I did the "fun-type" marriage -- rented clothes, monks, hundreds of her family and friends, music, food -- and we will do the "Legal Marriage" in the USA when her K1 Fiance' VISA is approved soon.

Too Difficult To Do - Too Expensive - Too Many Chances For Error.

We're not legal in Thailand and I find that a "good thing".

[dotpoom]

Nice to see someone giving us a price in "pounds sterling" for a change...like we were all English in this forum. Maybe now the Americans who give prices in dollars might begin to understand how some people find this annoying. If you are talking about the price of something .in Thailand why not simply give it to us in Thai Baht. You had to convert the Thai Baht into pounds sterling ......in order to understand the price we now have to convert the pounds sterling back into Thai Baht....not so easy when we all come from different countries that have mostly different currencies. We would be a busy little bunch for example were we all to quote the price of things in Thailand in our individual home country currencies....for what reason?

Having said all that I do wish you every happiness in the future and may you and your wife to be have a long and happy life together...

Edited November 16, 2014 by dotpoom

[williet98248]

The great majority of foreigners come to Thailand for a symbolic romantic marriage and have a legal marriage at the Registry Office in their home country either before or after the romantic wedding because it is easier. If you really want the legal Thai marriage you will have to go through the legal Thai hoops. If you do it yourselves it can be frustrating and time consuming but relatively inexpensive. If you pay a service it will go smoothly but cost you a bit. I know that here in Phuket the Katathani hotel can put together a wedding package legal or otherwise for two people or a hundred in a lovely dedicated wedding venue right next to beautiful Kata Noi beach. They have about 200 weddings a year and 99% are foreign couples. You can see the weddings on Youtube. The Wedding Chapel at Laguna Phuket can do the same. The WC is a churchlike building built on a lake. The couple can arrive at the venue by water taxi. Many wedding planners in Thailand and many hotels and resorts have Event staff who plan weddings. Should be able to take care of you.

Edited November 17, 2014 by williet98248

[captbob]

If its a asian Thai or Lao or viet or what ever wife don't f*** around take a lawyer made a contract full safe in case u buy some kind of property car house land biseness it work and it worth it save my ass couple time in Laos a good notorious contract expensive but wen the family put their nose in your asset your f***** man protect yourself ware a legal condom 5555 lol