Wedding 2

Another wedding in our village.  These are traditional weddings and have no legal significance.  To make them legal you have to register at the local Government centre at the Amphur which in our case is at Phompisai.

However, they are binding in the village and the groom pays a dowry to the bride's family, which can be a significant amount depending on how rich the groom is and how much the bride is worth.  This has to be negotiated before the wedding.

Village elder who performs weddings is on the left in a striped jacket, the groom is holding the umbrella

Cows across the road from the wedding, obviously interested in the proceedings.

The child in red is cleaning the feet of the groom

Counting the dowry.  This is an important event and is sometimes broadcast to the whole village via speakers.  It tells everybody the wealth of the groom and the value of the bride

The bride descends from the upper floor.  Nearly all houses have two storeys but usually they are empty and people live on the ground floor

Gold chains represent status and a form of saving

I think the groom came from Bangkok and the bride is a young teenager.  It may have been an arranged marriage as these used to be common.

Everybody is tied together with (magic) string