What should I do if I want to marry a Thai

it depend i think...cos for my girl she never request anything for mi the involve money.. that is a time when i wanted to buy a ring for her ..she said she do not want it

[Falcoe]

perhaps aiming for a bigger one?

maybe yes maybe no.. not sure... but if the time come and we are stable i will consider buying ..

[Falcoe]

Just becareful. Like me, I've already given my girl a ring, but still... things happen.

[visionchaser45]

If you are talking about a diamond ring, it is not necessary according to Thai tradition. It is better to save the money for a dowry or the wedding party. The gold bands are exchanged at the ritual ceremony (at least they were in my case). We got two nice gold bands for 7,500 THB, which is not much in western currency (~$180 U.S.). Since I married a country girl, the wedding party only cost me ~10,000 THB, or ~$240 U.S.

We are only sending her family 80,000 THB per year, which amounts to ~$1,920 U.S. We are sending it a little at a time (20,000 per quarter) so they don't spend it all at once. It works out to a little less than 7,000 THB per month. That is the budget and she (and her family) know that I am not able or willing to send more. It is important to make that information crystal clear at the very beginning. Otherwise they are likely to treat you like a money tree. It's not their fault though, they just have the idea that westerners are all rich and you just need to help them gain perspective. Make them understand that, although you represent an improvement in their standard of living, they didn't win the lottery. I showed my wife what I earn, what our monthly living expenses are in America (rent, utilities, food, automobile, etc.) and what we need in order to travel to Thailand once each year. We also want to save a little and we have that budgeted too. What is left is what we are sending. She is comfortable with this arrangement and so am I.

vision i must said u have a beli understanding wife... cos some thai girl put their family first in laws second...

[Falcoe]

Hi Vision, can I know how much you actually needed for your wedding and the cost U acutually spent? How much you pay for the dowry if any? And I suppose you got 2 bart of gold, rite?

[visionchaser45]

Falcoe,

I'll break it down for you.

Although they didn't ask for it, I gave her parents 25,000 and her son 15,000. It was sort of like a dowry, but was not requested or required of me. For food, beer, gifts and other incidentals associated with the ritual ceremony, the total came to around 20,000. The gold rings cost 7,500 THB. If you throw in the cost of the rental car at 1,000 per day (6 days total = 6,000), then the whole deal cost me 73,000 THB.

Now, there is also airfare. I paid $1,100.00 U.S. for my round-trip ticket. I also bought her ticket to Miami for $1,335.00 U.S. The nine days that were not spent visiting her parents cost me 1350 THB per night for hotel. Beer, food, gifts for her and other incidentals added up to ~2000 THB per day for the nine days (18,000 THB). Bought a Game Boy for her son for 5,000 THB. Airport transfers to Pattaya hotel (both coming and going) totaled 3,700 THB.

Let's add up the grand total for the 14-day trip, including the wedding and all the addidional expenses combined.

213,475 THB or $5,123.40 U.S.

If you are interested in only the wedding-related expenses, then the toatal was more like 67,500 THB or $1,620.00 U.S.

As you can see, 67,600 THB is a long way from 213,475, but you must realize that there are other costs associated with such an endeavor. It's not a lot of money, but it's not chicken feed either. It's best to go into something like this with your eyes open. The expenses add up quickly

[Falcoe]

Cool, Vision... thanks for your valuable information. Looks like I gotta do some calculating before going for such 'wedding' plan... Thanks again, pal.

even though it is still earli for mi..
i think i should prepare now manz haha