It’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally uploaded photos from the wedding. Lots of people have asked me about it, so I’ll describe it here.

For those who aren’t aware, the whole timing of our trip was to end in Bangkok for my father’s wedding. He married a Thai woman, Prem, about a year and a half ago, but they didn’t have their official Thailand wedding until this January.

I really didn’t know what to expect going in, so it felt like quite an adventure. The festivities began the night before, when a friend of my father’s hosted a dinner for all of us out of town guests. So there were probably about a dozen of us, me and Mike and a bunch of my dad’s golfing buddies, including my uncle (mom’s brother), my father and Prem, and two of the men’s girlfriends. We went to a nice Thai restaurant in the Sukhumvit area. My dad’s friends are quite a kick, and we had a good time trading travel stories with them.

We dragged ourselves out of bed the next morning and rushed over to the hotel where the wedding was to be held. It was within walking distance, but we were running late, and made the bad decision to get a cab rather than take the sky train the one stop. I don’t know how we forgot that traffic in Bangkok is horrible any time of any day, and Sukhumvit is one of the worst streets. We got there, paid too much (”minimum charge 100 baht”), and rushed inside, to find that we had made it just in time for the stand around and talk for half an hour before the wedding part. Now we know. Just take the train.

So the morning ceremony was the official Thai wedding. It was mostly Prem’s friends and family there, only one friend of my father, because he was a part of the wedding party, and a Thai friend of both my father and Prem who lives in NH too.

The wedding began with my father’s entrance. Everyone, including Prem was inside the room, and members of her family stood on either side of the door holding gold chains across the entry. As he entered, he had to give them envelopes of money in order to be allowed past the chains. Once he made it through everyone whooped and cheered. We wondered what would have happened if he’d forgotten the envelopes!

Then Prem’s mother, Prem, my father, and his friend, Davies, went up onto the stage, where there was a leather couch and two leather armchairs. They sat on the couch and the emcee (I think that’s the best word for her) said some stuff (in Thai so I don’t know what). Then a table was placed before them and these platters on top of it. One had a bunch of Thai Baht fanned out on it. I’m not sure how much money was there, but a lot, and it was all brand new crisp bills. One had velvet boxes with gold jewelry in them, and one had two smaller boxes with rings, which I presumed to be the wedding rings. All of the items had beautiful pieces of fabric underneath them.

Davies was asked how much money he had brought for my father to marry Prem (I’m guessing that the role he played was that of what the groom’s father would normally hold). Then member’s of Prem’s family cam up and one by one sprinkled flower petals and seeds, and I’m not sure what else, all over the money and jewelry. Then the corners of the fabric underneath the jewelry were gathered up and that bundle moved over to the money plate, where that fabric was gathered up and the whole thing was tied up into a big bundle, and handed to a member of Prem’s family.

More was said, and my father placed a ring on Prem’s finger. More talking, and then my father placed the second ring on her finger! My father told me that in the Thai wedding he has to first give her the engagement ring, and then the wedding ring. So both rings were for her.

Then, the table and couched were removed, Dad and Prem sat on the floor, and people went up one at a time to tie a white string around their wrists and give them blessings. Often they also gave a give of money or jewelry. Each person was given a gift by the bride and groom.

Finally the couch was returned to the stage, and we took about 10,000 photos of every possible combination of family and friends.

We went back to our hotel and rested, and then returned to the hotel that evening for the reception. This part was help on the 11th floor rooftop area, with great views of the Bangkok night skyline. There is much less to say about the reception, it was like most receptions. lots of good food, tons of people. Prem wore a western style wedding dress, and my father a basic suit. As Dad’s only family present Mike and I were required to give speeches, which I found terribly difficult. I hate speaking in public, and wasn’t quite sure what you say at your father’s wedding. The fact that 75% of the people there speak little english made it a little less nerve wracking though. My initial greeting in Thai seemed to be a hit. Mike of course gave a smooth and moving speech, because he, like his brothers, is excellent at that type of stuff.

So that’s that. It was a great time! There are more photos on flickr if you click through on one of the above shots.

We had a nice week in New Hampshire for Christmas ‘06 and have had the chance to see many family members over four separate Christmas gatherings. They included a four-generation present-a-thon (Friday), a civilized two-generation meal and novelty instrument jam session (Saturday), an intimate family meal and fire (Sunday) and a big Thai meal and gift exchange (Keely received a pink outfit and later that night we watched SARS Wars: Bangkok Zombie Crisis with Dad and Prem). More adventures to follow as we ship off to Asia in under a week.