On the day after Christmas, my Thai teacher of the last four and a half years finally tied the knot. There’s no doubt she’s a patient person – continuing to tutor me after all these years is all the evidence of patience you would ever need – and her patience finally paid off as she married a handsome, decent, and loving man. Tawn and I were very honored to be invited to the ceremony and I thought I would share some of the photos with you.
Above, photos of Khru Kitiya (“Khru” means “teacher” in Thai) and her husband, Khun Por. It is common for Thai couples to go for professional wedding portraits weeks or months in advance of their wedding. These portraits are often elaborately staged in specialized studios, many of which are located in our neighborhood. The photos are then displayed at the wedding reception for guests to enjoy.
The wedding ceremonies were held at a facility on the north side of the city that is built in a traditional Thai style. This main building is part of a rooftop reception area with open-air pavilions on either side of the deck. Because it was a very bright day, although pleasantly breezy, most guests were hiding in the shade. Notice all the shoes of the guests who are inside the main building.
The day consisted of three distinct events, of which we took part in the second two. The first began at 7:30, when the monks arrived to conduct a traditional Buddhist ceremony, complete with chanting and the splashing of holy water. The families of the couple then feed the monks in order to make merit for the newlyweds.
The second event was the Rot Nam (“water pouring”) ceremony. Family members and friends bless the groom and bride by pouring a small amount of water on their hands, which are held in a prayer-like position, while wishing them happiness in their marriage. You will notice that both the groom and bride are in more traditional outfits, symbolically joined by a string, and have additional blessing marks on their foreheads.
The third event was a Chinese style luncheon banquet, held downstairs from the pavilions. There were probably 200 guests and we enjoyed dish after dish of tasty food while listening to speeches by Phuu Yai (“big people”, or guests of honor) and teasing by the two masters of ceremonies.
One special treat after the speeches was that Khun Por and Khru Kitiya performed a duet for the guests. Singing in front of a crowd is always a little scary but doing that on your wedding day just raises the stakes!
After the cake was cut, Khru Kitiya did something unconventional for a Thai wedding: she threw her bouquet to the crowd of unmarried women. This is something borrowed from American style weddings and I’ve never seen it at a Thai wedding before. Unfortunately, her aim was a bit wide and the bouquet ended up in the hands of a young lady, recently married and expecting her first child!
It was a very fun celebration and we were glad to have been invited to be a part of it. I hope Khun Por and Khru Kitiya have a long and happy life together!
christao408 
very nice! especially the duet part. it’s nice to attend happy weddings like this and i too hope that they have a great life together.btw – won’t be posting for the rest of the week so happy new year to you and tawn! be well!
Congrats to them!Good looking couple too!
Congratulations to your teacher and her new husband. Agree with yang1815, your mentor is beautiful. Hope they have a wonderful life ahead of them.
The bride is very beautiful. She can become Miss Thailand!
Your teacher is adorable!! Aren’t Thai weddings fun?? We had the opportunity to attend several while we were in Bangkok…in fact I came across the gold coins in a little heart shaped lace doily just the other day…that I received as a favor at one of the weddings…lol. Ruth Ann
What fun. I love weddings.
You have mentioned this Thai teacher in several of your posts, and I always thought she’s one of those middle aged Thai woman. Wow! What an pleasant surprise to see such a pretty teacher. Chris has good taste in choosing a teaching mate!
so many happy faces 🙂
Aww I love reading about different wedding traditions around the world, and it’s even better with photos!Thank you for sharing with us this day, and I wish the newly married couple a wonderful and happy marriage!
What a wonderful couple and the bride really is beautiful. All good wishes to them for their future together. Great photo’s Chris and it’s lovely to learn about different traditions around the world.
Your teacher is beautiful. I love reading about wedding traditions. I would never have noticed that string tying them together in the pic without you pointing it out!
Congratulations to the couple!
Very gorgeous, the pictures and the bride haha
wow love the pictures!
They look very beautiful. I like seeing how other people tie the knot.
Wow, she is beautiful, Chris. Congratulations to them.
I have attended such a wedding and it is beautiful as are the bride and groom at this one!
The newlyweds look beautiful! And it’s always fascinating to see how weddings are done in different cultures. They have all these interesting traditions and little things that symbolize the bond between the couple, which is always a beautiful way to symbolize love and commitment!I hope the food was good, and you ate a lot!
She is so beautiful 🙂 and they look very happy! My bff is 3/4 Thai and I have learned quite a few things from her over the years. She is currently deployed and these pictures made me miss her…but I am happy for your teacher and her new husband 🙂
I am with everyone here… your mentor looks gorgeous. Congrats to her and her husband. I don’t know when the next time I’ll be on is, but I hope you and Tawn had a great holiday and have a great new years!
ehhhhh, she’s not even pretty, watch, within 6 months, some stupid fight is going to happen and everyone goes their separate ways, just wait and watch
Congratulations to Khru Kitiya and her new husband. She looks so happy and what a beauty!
Cheers to the newly wed couple!!!They make a lovely couple too!
What a Merry Wedding! cheers to the lovely couple!
@PeterGT – Peter, while I don’t want to play the role of censor, I’d like to invoke my grandmother’s advice: “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.” There’s certainly nothing gained by you making such a mean-spirited remark.@yang1815 – @Southeast_Beauty – @ClimbUpTreesToLookForFish – @amygwen – @MichellelyNg – @puella_sapiens216 – @Chatamanda – @brooklyn2028 – @Ikwa – @TheCheshireGrins – @Roadlesstaken – @ZSA_MD – @NightlyDreams – @Fatcat723 – @stebow – @kenpcho – @agmhkg – Thank you everyone for your kind words and congratulations for the married couple. I will be sure to pass your best wishes along to them. I’m sure they will be tickled to know that more than 300 people around the world have viewed the story of their wedding.@Redlegsix – We have a few bags of those gold coins, too. Even though they are just 25 satang (quarter-baht) coins, they are meant to bring you wealth and good fortune. Hopefully in all the years you have had them, their magical powers have proved their ability for you and Pat! =D@seriously_meredith – Oh, I’m glad that these pictures reminded you of your friend. I hope she returns home safe and sound soon.@AzureRecollections – The food was nice and there were some tasty variations to the typically Chinese banquet menu.@CurryPuffy – Oh, it is interest that you had drawn that mental picture over the past few years. No, in fact she is younger than Tawn and is working on her master’s degree right now.@ThePrince – @bengozen – Thank you for the new year’s wishes. The same back to both of you.
she’s beautiful! every time you mentioned of your teacher in your blog, i’ve always had this image of a much older lady. don’t know why.
What a beautiful couple – Hope they have a lifetime of joy! I also love this glimpse of Thai life. It looks like everyone had a good time judging from all the smiling and laughing …
They look like a very nice couple. Do the bride and groom play those silly games during the reception? btw – I had the same impression of your teacher as Gary.
@ElusiveWords – There were no silly games played, at least for the time that Tawn and I were there. I know what you are talking about, though, having been to many Chinese weddings.@murisopsis – Glad you enjoyed this glimpse into the Thai way of life. Everyone was very happy, to say the least.@rudyhou – Funny how you, Matt, and Gary all pictured my teacher as being older. There has been two pictures of her on my blog over the years, but it would have been easy to miss those.
Best wishes to Khru Kitiya and her husband on their marriage and for a long life together. I remember her patience with all of us as we tried to learn the most basic of Thai phrases.
hhmm…. what can i say, great minds think alike ;p happy new year to you and tawn.