Going to the Temple And We’re…

…gonna get ma-a-a-rried.

Bride and groom with the groom’s family.

Since there are at least 3 gentlemen of Thai-Blogs getting married to the fabulous Thai ladies, I feel obliged to share my intercultural wedding experience.

But as I’m restricted for time this night, I’d go into all the fun details on coming days in installments.

Although, in short, we had 2 weddings.

First, we got married on paper by a friend, who is a non-denomination reverend through a mail correspondence course, at a local diner in November, 2 months before our actual wedding. We did it that way to help expedite our INS paperwork. That plan didn’t work though as there were screw ups after screw ups, and I didn’t get my work permit/green card until September.

In January, we had a shortened traditional Thai wedding at Wat Thai Los Angeles on a Sunday morning with families and close friends, followed by
a casual Thai lunch reception after we fed the monks. Later in the evening, everyone reconvened along with the rest of our friends in Long Beach for an American wedding reception with a little bit of Thai flares.

As a teaser ad, and an ode to SteveSuphan, here’s the Do’s and Don’ts list of Thai-Farang Intercultural Wedding:

DO, if you’re having many Farang guests, print some programs with explanations of Thai wedding ceremony. Just in case the interpreter that the temple promised you would be there to help narrate the shindig happens to not materialized. Our farang guests at the temple, which were the majority, and the groom himself, were in the dark through most of the ceremony.

DO go to the bathroom before sitting down with your new wife to be blessed by your guests. Having water from the conch shell trickling onto your hands when you have a full bladder isn’t fun.

DON’T run screaming from the temple when you are unexpectedly hit in the eye with the blessed holy water. Oh yes, DO warn your farang friends about that part of the blessing.

DON’T be surprised if the whole town showed up at your wedding. Thai style wedding reception rules is that you invite everyone you know. Thank god I had my wedding in the U.S., or else the citizens of the Big Mango would have congregated at our wedding reception!

Selected pictures from the wedding are on my Yahoo! Album along with other pictures. I’ll put more, better resolution pictures up on my Flickr album as I write the storie.

Until next time!