Beach weddings in Phuket require a little bit more thought than a typical wedding. Yes, any wedding takes a lot of planning, so a little extra is the last thing you need, but fear not – we’ve got some simple advice to make these additional decisions you’ll need to make pretty simple. There’s absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t still enjoy a wonderful, memorable wedding on a fantastic Thai beach. All you have to do is answer the following yes-or-no questions:
Do you want your marriage to be legally binding?
Unfortunately, the practicality of getting a wedding in Thailand officially registered, particularly for foreign nationals, is a little nightmarish. It requires getting pages and pages of documentation, most of it needing to be translated into Thai and waiting around government offices in Bangkok. Since that is very few people’s idea of a fun holiday, most Phuket wedding packages are ceremonial only. Naturally, you will want your marriage to be legal, but the more practical way of doing it might be to do the ceremonial part in Thailand and then do all the paperwork in your home country.
Are you happy getting married between November and April?
Beach weddings are a dream come true, if the weather is good. Replace blue skies with dull cloud cover and the seafront ceremony with hiding indoors, out of reach of monsoon rains, and your big day will be memorable for all the wrong reasons. Thailand’s dry season runs from approximately November to April, but it’s best to aim for the middle of that time (February and March) so that you can effectively guarantee that the weather will be perfect. And don’t trust online weather forecasts – they always say that there are thunderstorms in Phuket, for some reason.
Do you want your ceremony to be extra-exotic?
Phuket wedding packages come in a number of flavours. You can have a beach wedding version of a standard western wedding with a non-denominational officiant, an Indian wedding or a Thai wedding with a group of monks from the local temple chanting prayers to bless your union. As stated above, none of these ceremonies are legally binding.
Can you speak Thai?
Organising a wedding in your own country, where all the suppliers speak the same language as you, is challenging enough. Add a language barrier and things start to get extremely tricky. For this reason, it’s generally best to get local support when planning a Phuket beach wedding. Most packages include the services of a wedding planner, who can recommend reliable suppliers and will secure whatever you want or need for a reasonable price.
