Our Wedding
Chat and I were married on Sunday November 26th 2006 (2549 in the more accurate Thai calendar) in a traditional Northern Thai ceremony!
It was so completely different from anything that I have ever seen in the US - simply amazing! The wedding took place at her fathers home in Chiang Rai and we wore traditional Thai clothing that she chose. Her younger son (Bank) has a band and they played after the ceremony with some songs also sung by her older son Best. For the ceremony itself, I was escorted from "the palace" to her home by a large group of family members - two of which were my "mom" and "dad" since my parents could not be here for the wedding. During the ceremony, her oldest living relative - her grandmother - began the "string tying", followed in a downward (by age) progression of all her family members. The Thai word for "marriage" means "to be strung together". Each would come up to us, wish us well, health, wealth, etc., and then tie a string around her right and my left wrists. At the end we exchanged rings and then had to untie all of the strings. After that we did the cake cutting, dancing and general partying. Click here for a 38 Meg video clip.
For a sample of how different and unexpected things were,check out this 16.5 meg clip!
Chat's older sister Pin did all the planning and setup for the wedding and did a spectacular job. The whole family put a LOT of personal time in to the food, decorations, flowers, set up of tables, chairs, arranging for a group of very talented young musicians - a short video of their practice session is here - and the list goes on and on. The family
participation (and I mean the WHOLE family) was stunning by our standards!
These are just a few of the pictures:
The banner behind us
on the stage.
Some of the young
musicians.
Time for my parents to
present me to Chat
and her family for the
wedding.
Almost at the gate.....
Presenting the bowl
Chat's grandmother
made to Chat.
Time to start the
ceremony.
Her father shows his
approval and wishes his
blessing on us by tying
our wrists together.
Chat's step mother
does the same.
Me and Chat with
some of her friends.
Me and Chat with her
aunt - my "mom" for
the wedding.
Bank and his band entertaining the guests.
Chat relaxing in the
lobby of the
Laluna Hotel
on Sunday Morning.
A better shot of the
backdrop.
Preparation on the
front porch of her
fathers house on
Saturday morning.
Her grandmother
worked on this basket
ALL DAY Saturday - all
the flowers you see
there were hand strung.
The completed basket
- amazing what you
can do with palm
leaves and a bag of
tiny flowers!
Just two of the table top arrangements that were
created on the spot from locally grown flowers.
Chat and me with the cake - you can see the hand
made candle holders on the wall behind us. Another
beautiful and thoughtful touch by her sister.
Chat with her older sister
Pin (left) and younger
sister Fon (right)
This is Chat with our grandson Jazz. His dad Best is Chat's older
son and is in the black jacket of the left picture. Yes, I did say
grandson - Chat is 38 (although she hardly looks 25) and I'm 43.
The four of us - in the right picture from left to right:
Bank, Chat, Me, Best
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