Koh Samui Weddings

Wedding in Samui... Wonderful celebration in a beautiful tropical paradise island...

Samuiwedding.com team up with 1st-kohsamui.com to provide a full service wedding planning organization and offer Special Wedding Packages in Samui island, Koh Tao, Koh Nang Yuan and all around Thailand.

Now that you've said "Yes," there are a million planning details to deal with. Planning your wedding should be exciting, not hectic. The best wedding professionals are booked up to two years in advance.

Koh Samui has always been the home of Honeymooners, and now the temptation to skip having the wedding in a separate place has not only become a possibility, but also affordable!

Getting married Thai style surrounded by sun, sand and sea on a tropical island is an increasingly popular choice for couples, for a great number of reasons beyond the idyllic location. Weddings in Europe don't come cheap, especially if you're looking to fulfil your dream wedding, whereas here on Koh Samui, once you've paid for the flights, the cost of the actual wedding is a fraction of what you'd be looking at spending back home. You don’t even need to buy the clothes. Local tailors are happy to turn out suitably special outfits for the bride and groom for a reasonable price. This means that you really can achieve your exotic fantasy wedding and make it one of the most memorable occasions of your life. What's more, you will already have arrived at one of the most romantic honeymoon destinations in the world so there's no need to waste time travelling any further to look for a honeymoon spot.

Once the wedding ceremony is over, you nip can off to your romantic hideaway location of choice and celebrate your new union in paradise.

You can arrive at your ceremony on an elephant, escorted by the ceremonious and thrilling Thai long drum procession, in traditional Thai attire or your perfect white dress, or even have your ceremony conducted by monks at an historic Buddhist temple! To top it off, you can stay in luxury at one of the beachfront villas while any of your guests that have made the trip can stay also stay in a luxury villa for rent in Samui, all at a lower cost than most traditional Western weddings.

Most of the island's better hotels now offer wedding packages and there are also wedding planners and agencies available to help you manage your day. Western style weddings are always an option, with English speaking celebrants on hand to read the vows, but many couples opt for a traditional Thai ceremony, which certainly adds to the exotic experience.

The Thai style ceremonies available to foreigners getting married on Koh Samui vary a little from location to location. The stages and elements described below are common to most Thai style ceremonies at the various resorts and villas around the island.

Most Thai weddings generally commence early in the morning, although these days they can be organised for anytime during the day. The ‘Long Drum' procession is the traditional way to reach the ceremonial site, whether it is a temple, on the beach, in a luxury villa or within the grounds of a resort. If the long drum ceremony house was too far away to walk from, then a nearby landmark would symbolise the groom’s home and the procession would start from there.

Today on Samui, couples also have the unique opportunity to include an elephant in the Long Drum procession upon which they can ride to the ceremonial site. Such options add a certain spectacle to the proceedings and are optional at special locations around the island.

Traditionally, before entering the brides' house or in this case the ceremonial site, the groom has to cross two symbolic doors, the first being a silver gate, the second one gold. In order to open the gates and marry his bride, the groom has to give a gift of money to the gatekeepers, which more often than not means the bride's sisters. The golden gate commands a higher monetary value, of course. Prior to being let through the gate, the groom is asked whether he is good enough, or in a good enough financial position to be able to take care of his wife, to which he answers accordingly with ‘yes' then hands over an envelope containing the fee.

The number of gates depicted varies on Samui. At one location for example, the groom must pass a total of four gates in the garden with a final fifth gate being in front of the bride's room.

But don't worry, the amount given is not actually that significant, and usually doesn't exceed 500 Thai baht.

Once together, the bride and groom then jointly light candles and a pair of garlands, which always come as pair to symbolize unity, are blessed by a monk and then hung around the necks of the couple by the master of ceremonies. Then a full blessing from Buddhist monks commences, the number of monks can vary from three to five depending on the wedding ceremony.

First, the monks chant a stanza and then bless the bride and groom by linking their heads with joined loops of ‘Sai Mongkon' or holy string.

The meaning of this is that the individual identity of the two people is kept, but destinies are united to go through life together. At the end of the chanting the head of the chapter of monks, using a candle, anoints the foreheads of the bride and groom with scented powder at three points. The first is to show respect to the Buddha, the second is to show the respect for the monks and the third represents the teaching, lessons and philosophy of the Buddhist culture.

Following this blessing, the bride and groom ‘make merit' by offering the monks various items for personal use, as well as flowers and meritorious cash which is called ‘Sung- Kath an' (gift).

The tradition is also to offer various selections of food to the monks, which they eat then and there. However, if the ceremony has been set after 12pm this will no longer be possible, as the monks are not permitted to eat after that time. Continuing on with the next stages of the ceremony, the bride and groom then receive a final blessing of holy water by the head monk who gently pours the water over their heads while uttering some blessings. The bride and groom then proceed to kneel at a Thai style wedding alter still wearing their ‘Sai Mongkon' and with their hands clasped together in a ‘Wai' where they are subsequently blessed individually by everybody.

Each guest, starting with the most senior, pours holy water, ‘Nam Sang' over their hands uttering holy sentences and blessings, and wishing them well for their future together as husband and wife. Guests then put a gift or an envelope containing money (the amount depends on the guests' status) in a basket, and each time an envelope or gift is received it is reciprocated with a little gift from the bride and groom commemorating the wedding.

Now the time has come for photos of the bride and groom with family and their guests and also the final ceremony, which many packages like to include. This features the planting of a ‘love tree ' - a ceremony between the bride and the groom where they find a special place where they can plant a tree.

It is a special part of the ceremony that represents the good feeling generated by the wedding atmosphere that will last forever, just like the tree. Of course, every good wedding deserves a cocktail reception with cool and refreshing drinks served after the busy ceremony, such as fruit Daiquiris or Champagne and tasty Canape's. At most locations on Samui these are served next to the wedding location and this is often followed by an intimate evening dinner close to the moonlit beach, or within the romantic gardens of a private villa or restaurant.

Traditional Thai dishes such as Tom Yum Gung and Green Curry, as well as contemporary western fusions are among the many choices to add a special flavour to the Thai style-wedding day.

If you would like to make your marriage on Samui official with a Thai marriage certificate, you will need to initially contact your embassy in order to get a statutory declaration, a document that has been endorsed and stamped by the consulate that verifies you're single and free to marry. This then needs to be translated into the Thai language, and once on Koh Samui the documents will be given to the Nathon City Hall a few days prior to the wedding, in order to issue the wedding certificate in Thai. The bride and groom have the option to go to the City Hall for the signing of the official documents or can call the authorities to come to the hotel after the wedding ceremony has taken place, so that they can be officially married under Thai Law. To ensure your marriage is officially recognised in your own country, it is also a good idea to have the marriage certificate and translated into your native language.

With the number of annual guests growing on the island of Koh Samui, so have the companies and facilities that offer Thai Wedding rituals and ceremonies, as well as other Western traditional weddings. There are wedding planners, resorts and hotels that offer this unique manner of uniting with the love of your life. Make it an official beginning to the rest of your days with the one you love, and say ”I do” on the isle of Koh Samui.

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