dOk, my girl is hoping to have around 150 guests total at our wedding.  It will be at a hotel around Kamphaeng Phet.   Hoping to come up with a decent estimate on just the costs of the wedding itself.   And the party afterward.    She's Bhuddist, of course.  Any discussion here much appreciated!

 

 

 

what percentage are from your side of the family, if any?  - Travel cost

or is it the village will be attending?  

My parents are in poor health, and my other family is devout Christian, so no on will be traveling to Thailand for the wedding.  It's just her friends and family.

Will cost you S??? Loads and more 

 

keeping it all as the one wedding, locally - you'll also be copping costs for home improvements,

so that the Monks and the crowd will all be comfortably accommodated for the blessings at home.

these after-the-wedding day events vary; in their number, and complexity.

 

Is the Hotel being booked-out?

 

and don't forget to have the entire thing video'd,

so you can send it all back to falangland,

to show them all what they have missed experiencing.

Just add it to the costs...

 

 

 

We're getting married and then  the next day leaving on an airplane to the USA.  This is a ceremonial only.  Actual  legal marriage in USA.

 

She's contacting the hotel. I'll report back with what she says.  I'm sure it won't be dirt cheap :).

You better be sitting down once you go through the costs.....I don't think it's going to be cheap.....Even at a basic basic cost of 1500 per person the baseline is 225,000 baht....

 

Not including rooms, planners, photographers, entertainment, booze, plus the gifts & sin sot.....

 

150 people from her family could swell up to more than a few more - they love their parties.....We had about 50 -60 from her family at our wedding & it felt like a lot.....

Thai's do not tend to have really huge families......

Unlike the Philippines were one side of a family can have 250-400 people......

Edited September 30, 20169 yr by pgrahmm

at least the Visa she goes to the US on, will still be a Fiancee Visa, as you still aren't married by the time of travel

 (besides, it'd be complicated getting a Spouse Visa done in such a short space of time)

 

Have you costed the proof-of-not-already-married paperwork, that the US would need from the girl?

(This is why it is more straight-forward if you actually marry in her own home country - to make secret bigamy more difficult to hide)

Why go to the expense of a hotel ext. Most traditional thai weddings are done at home no monks needed just the village or family elder who performs the chanting ect. Plus you will or should be given money by the guest which will go back to wifes family to pay most of the food and drinks costs. If your being told you have to pay or guests don't give money then your being lied to. 

27 minutes ago, Deepinthailand said:

Why go to the expense of a hotel ext. Most traditional thai weddings are done at home no monks needed just the village or family elder who performs the chanting ect. Plus you will or should be given money by the guest which will go back to wifes family to pay most of the food and drinks costs. If your being told you have to pay or guests don't give money then your being lied to. 

100% correct....I wondered about that too. ...We had the 9 monks & the 48 hour DJ/sound & traditional Thai wedding and all was very nicely appointed and formalised according to Thai tradition....Plenty of good times for everybody......

Hope this isn't a reflection of what's to come for the OP.....

 

Plus, you just don't hop on a flight the next day without a properly cleared visa.....

 

Once they get there the hard line Christians might really make the wife ill at ease.....Especially if they try & convert her......She'll be back to Thailand quickly....

 

Almost seems more "troll" the more I think about it.....

My traditional wedding was at the Amphor office.  Very cheap and legal.

On the issue of the devout Christians... we've agreed the kids will be raised as Bhuddists.    They live 150 miles away, so I don't see much of an issue.  I'm the family heathen  and they've given up trying to convert me.   They just won't be actively supporting the marriage.  Not a big deal to me and she understands the situation.

 

I'm personally not very religious and I find the "believe this way or you go to hell" doctrine of Christianity to be downright offensive.  Bhuddism is cool.  Bhuddists are tolerant folks.  I wouldn't dream of marrying a Christian girl.

As far as paying for the wedding, if I drop 5k on this, that's peanuts to me.  I'd rather she got the wedding she wanted than worrying about saving a measly 5 grand.  10 grand, maybe.  Hoping for something in between.  Budgeting no more than 10 grand out of pocket :).

We had a bash in Isaan with well over 200. The entire cost was around 125,000 baht

 

This included the bash and the 3 days previously leading up to it buying all the food and drink for those that arrived early

Stage with live music and dancers

5 giant tents with decorated tables and chairs (rented and they came and set it all up and took it all down.

Each table had a setup of a bottle of whiskey,  4 liters of Soda, liters of water, soda water

Menu was fish that was stuffed with lemon grass, salted and cooked on the grill, 2 whole pigs, bunch of other local foods and deserts

Bride had her choice of about 20 gowns brought to the house by some ladyboys that were in that business

Make-up artists for the brides and brides maids

I had a white traditional thai suit made

Paid the friends and neighbors for cooking, serving, washing the dishes (all which were borrowed from the temple)

Invitations were sent out, we took in about 30,000 baht from those making the actual total around 95,000

 

To me it was the greatest time ever and worth every penny.

 

 

Awesome.  

How much is the girl and her family contributring?

 

Its not uncommon in Thai/Thai weddings for the bride and groom to set up a joint bank account that each contribute to to pay the wedding costs.

 

To answer you question 150,000 baht tops, whats to happen to the white envelopes, who will be collecting them?

I cannot believe you did not discuss cost with your wife to be, before organising it ?

4 minutes ago, Thaiwrath said:

I cannot believe you did not discuss cost with your wife to be, before organising it ?

We are at the very beginning of planning stages.  Hoping to find others who had hotel weddings for comparison.    Nothing has been organized at all yet.

 

We're in the process of getting a K-1 for her, and when that comes through, we'll be ready to make concrete plans.   I generally try to find out as much information as I can beforehand.  That's all I'm doing here.  If you don't have any information to add, why even bother to post?  

typical thai face thing,

she is going for the biggest wedding around, show the village she has snared a rich falang,

wedding in the village my man wedding in the village,

just out of interest, if you dont mind sharing how much sim sot have you got to show at this grand affair?

My husband and I had our wedding at a hotel in Bkk. We paid about 750 THB per person for the reception, and most of my Thai friends said that was expensive. 

 

The hotel usually sells a package that includes things like a cake, a backdrop at the stage, a bottle of champagne for the toast, and one night stay for the bride and groom. The backdrop where you receive guests and flowers are usually extra. Our package included an ice sculpture which we exchanged for a bouquet of flowers.

 

We didn't have a Buddhist ceremony; we just exchanged rings in the morning and said a few words. -- no cost except for our wedding rings.

 

We hired a DJ, a photobooth, photographer, a wedding organizer to help with the backdrop (friend of a friend), and brought in our own alcohol. We made and sent our own invitations.  Whole thing was around 200-225k for about 160 ppl, not including the cost of my dress, tux rentals, and a few other things I am probably missing.

 

Our wedding was not Thai style -neither my husband nor I are Buddhist- but it might give you an idea of the expenses. Congrats!

 

10 hours ago, medic5678 said:

We are at the very beginning of planning stages.  Hoping to find others who had hotel weddings for comparison.    Nothing has been organized at all yet.

 

 

 

I went to a hotel wedding in Loei, about 150 guests of that about 120 stayed at hotel. total cost was 650k  (not including sin sod)  according to the groom (work colleague).

 

Couple that married are both Thai.

Edited October 1, 20169 yr by Don Mega

Got married in our new house.  100 guests all catered.  50,000 baht.

 

Sin sod given and returned.  

Edited October 1, 20169 yr by Scotwight

Sounds like a total waste of cash to me........You are not doing a wedding bash, you are funding a party where they will come, eat and disappear....Last about two hours....Unless I am invited to sing..........then it will last one hour......

1 minute ago, transam said:

Sounds like a total waste of cash to me........You are not doing a wedding bash, you are funding a party where they will come, eat and disappear....Last about two hours....Unless I am invited to sing..........then it will last one hour......

How much money did you get at your wedding?  

7 minutes ago, Scotwight said:

How much money did you get at your wedding?  

Nuffink...........

8 minutes ago, transam said:

Nuffink...........

I got 65,000.  Gee, you invited the wrong people.  

3 minutes ago, Scotwight said:

I got 65,000.  Gee, you invited the wrong people.  

No I didn't..........

The morning ceremony was held at her fathers house with mostly family. Food provided by family, we bought the ingredients plus paid for the monks. Sinsod on show and fully returned.

 

We held our reception at a local hotel. 150+ guests. Hotel provided reception hall, bridal suite and 2 rooms as part of the deal.

We provided the drinks. 1 bottle of whiskey per table + soft drinks.

Hotel provided the food. 8 guests per table. B450 per table 10 years ago.

 

Wife's colleagues and family did the decorations, her office I.T. man made up a nice 8 minute introduction video and office photographer took the wedding photos. Local advertising shop printed up some poster sized photos of us on display at both morning ceremony and evening reception for around B350 each

 

Guest envelopes more than covered the costs. A book was kept listing who gave what amount. A few of those guests have since married and got their money back.

 

7 minutes ago, Farma said:

The morning ceremony was held at her fathers house with mostly family. Food provided by family, we bought the ingredients plus paid for the monks. Sinsod on show and fully returned.

 

We held our reception at a local hotel. 150+ guests. Hotel provided reception hall, bridal suite and 2 rooms as part of the deal.

We provided the drinks. 1 bottle of whiskey per table + soft drinks.

Hotel provided the food. 8 guests per table. B450 per table 10 years ago.

 

Wife's colleagues and family did the decorations, her office I.T. man made up a nice 8 minute introduction video and office photographer took the wedding photos. Local advertising shop printed up some poster sized photos of us on display at both morning ceremony and evening reception for around B350 each

 

Guest envelopes more than covered the costs. A book was kept listing who gave what amount. A few of those guests have since married and got their money back.

That's how I thought it's supposed to work.  My first marriage in the States I cleared $27,000 and that was a lot of money in those days (before cars and electricity and such).

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