The second largest island in Thailand, Koh Samui is renowned for its lovely beaches, beautiful palms and relaxed atmosphere. No wonder, it’s one of the most popular wedding destinations too. If you are looking for a beautiful destination for your big day, you may certainly want to consider Koh Samui. Here are a few useful tips.
Wedding Registration
While you may have an event like Indian wedding and events on Koh Samui, a civil registration of marriage should be performed in order to consider you and your partner legally married. This will require a visit to your country’s embassy in Thailand, where both of you will be issued a form each named “Affirmation of Freedom to Marry”. This form should be signed by a consular official from the embassy. You and your partner will need your valid passport here. The document will also need to be translated from English to Thai. After you receive the original and translated versions of the affirmation, you will have to send them to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where they will accept and authenticate the forms and return them to you. You’ll also need to pay supplementary ‘express’ fees.
Finally, you’ll have to visit an Amphur or Khet office (the District Registrar) to get the Thai version of a
‘Marriage Registration Certificate’. This time too, you should bring along a translator and also the earlier identification, affirmation documents and their translations. You can choose a sworn translated version of the certificate.
When Should You Get Married in Koh Samui?
Thailand being a tropical country, weather there is normally hot, rainy and humid. There are 4 main seasons – cool from December to February, hot from March to June, pre-monsoon from July to September and rainy from October to November. Among these the cool season is ideal for wedding.
You should also think about public holidays and festivals when there would be heavy traffic and wedding vendors tend to be busy.
Traditional Thai Wedding
If you choose to have the traditional Thai wedding, remember that you’ll have to register your marriage in the way described above; or else, your wedding won’t be considered legal. The traditional wedding involves vales of Buddhism and the ceremony can be extremely memorable with various types of processions and cultural events. For example, in the Pook Mue sacred cord ritual, a yarn string will be tied around the couple’s wrists for their happy married life.
Are you ready now for a stupendous Koh Samui wedding?