Marrying a Thai Partner

If you are marrying your Thai partner, it’s worth familiarising yourself with all aspects of a traditional Thai wedding as well as the legal formalities. Unless you speak good Thai, the chances are that the planning of the day will be left to your partner and their family. If you are paying for the wedding you will need to set some ground-rules to prevent things getting out of hand. For a Thai person, the more they spend on their family and friends the more prestige and merit they will gain. If you aren’t Buddhist this might not be important to you, but no Thai person would want to lose face on an important event such as their wedding day. They would not want their friends to think that either they or their partner haven’t done things properly. To a Western mindset it might seem like showing off, but for Thai people it’s all about not losing face.

Merit gift

In Thailand, the…