Super Adventurama!: How to Legally "Thai the Knot"

On December 28th, 2016, my boyfriend & I hiked Cascade Head on a bluebird day in Lincoln City, Oregon. Unbeknownst to me, (although I had some suspicions), my man proposed to me that day on the top of a bluff, next to a small sapling and I said YES! What a beautiful day and exciting time. We felt on top of the world (and actually, kind of literally were) and were elated to share the news with our friends & family.

Now anyone who's ever been engaged before knows what comes next: Yes, the celebrations, but also the questions, the suggestions, the unsolicited advice: "So, when's the date?" "Where are you going to get married?" "You know you're going to have to invite your Aunt Margret, right?" "Well...just make sure you don't get married TOO soon." It was overwhelming before we even got started. People have so many expectations when it comes to weddings, and since I work in the wedding business, I had a pretty good idea of what all was involved.

So we spent a lot of time discussing options with one another, going back and forth with different scenarios. We wanted to skip a lot of aspects about weddings that we didn't like. For example, we didn't want to invite a whole bunch of people to our very special day who just really didn't care too much about us or we didn't really know (no people Facebooking or taking selfies during our ceremony). We didn't want the day to be stressful. Instead, we wanted to be entirely focused on the two of us and our love, our moment, instead of worrying why the caterer hadn't shown up or why there were too few chairs. We didn't want to have to pick "favorites" for our bridal party, which creates hurt feelings and awkwardness. We didn't want gifts (another weird and outdated tradition that neither of us ever really liked). And above all, we wanted the moment when we exchanged our vows to be private and intimate, a very sacred time for us to cherish instead of us worrying about everyone staring at us and what "they" thought of what we had written.

So, for all those reasons (and because we love to adventure and wanted to get married somewhere tropical and warm!), we decided to get married in Thailand. We already had a vacation planned to Thailand for March 2017, so the only thing we needed to do was secure a wedding planner and figure out how to get legally married in Thailand in less than 3 months. No big deal, right? (There goes the 'no stress' idea...ha!) In all honesty, we toyed with the idea of getting legally married at the courthouse at home before our trip. Low cost, no stress. And as we continued to do research, we found out that most people who have wedding ceremonies abroad choose that option, because it is simpler and easier. However, it didn't feel genuine to us. We didn't want to get legally married at the courthouse in Oregon and then have a fancy "for show" elopement in Thailand. So, we started doing the research on what all is involved for an American to get married in Thailand. And it was HARD to figure it out, simply because there is a lot of contradicting information out there. So, that is the main reason I'm writing this blog post today. I'm writing it for that person out there who may want to elope and get married in Thailand but has no clue what the legal process entails. So if you're an American who wants to "Thai" the knot, this one's for you!!!

First, I would highly encourage you to hire a legal rep. We hired Jit, and she did a fabulous job. You can reach her at inquires@legallymarriedinthailand.com or visit her website, which is very informative (www.legallymarriedinthailand.com). We paid 9,000 bht for her services (which is approx. $258 USD), but several people we contacted before Jit was recommended to us were charging DOUBLE that. All other people we contacted, in fact. So if you hire Jit, she will not only be the most affordable choice, she will also walk you through everything you need to do to successfully get married in Thailand. Here's the basic run-down:

Before you leave:

-Each individual needs to fill out a marriage affidavit. This is something you will need to bring with you to the US Embassy in Bangkok to make your marriage legal. Jit provided us with the form we needed, but you can get one from your respective embassy or online (just make sure it's the real deal!)

-Make an appointment with the US Embassy in Bangkok. The Embassy is super busy, so having an appointment ensures that you are prioritized. You need an appointment for EACH of you, not one for both of you. There are random days and holidays when their offices are closed too, so be sure to check into that. Here's the website where you can make your appointment: https://th.usembassy.gov/u-s-citizen-services/acsappointment/

-Make copies of both of your passports to give to the legal rep when you arrive in Thailand (or before).

-Pay a 50% deposit to Jit via PayPal

When you arrive in Thailand:

-Make copies of your entry Visa in your passport to bring with you and give to your legal rep when you visit the Embassy.

-Visit the Embassy with your passport, copies of your passport, copies of your visa entry and marriage affidavits (Jit's assistant brought our affidavits with him, which was nice cause that was one less thing we had to remember). Once your paperwork is complete, you will give it all to your legal rep, who will be waiting outside the embassy with you. Pay them the remainder of their fee (either in baht or USD)

Finishing up paperwork at the Embassy with our legal rep in Bangkok, Day 1 in Thailand

IF you hire a legal rep (or at least the one we did), the remainder of the process is seamless for you. After we visited the Embassy, our work was done and we were able to enjoy the rest of our vacation. Our paperwork's journey, however, had just begun. All of our paperwork had to be translated into Thai. Then, 4 days after that, our legal rep had to return to the Legalization division to retrieve our completed and translated paperwork. They then sent our paperwork from Bangkok to our wedding coordinator Caz on the tiny island of Koh Tao, where we got married. From there, Caz took our paperwork to the local government office and made an appointment for our wedding day with the "Amphoe", who is the government official responsible for the the second level administrative subdivision of Thailand. The Amphoe had his own desk at our wedding ceremony (and security with him), and we had to sit with him and sign paperwork with him before they could legally pronounce us "husband and wife". It was a trip! And we had some really funny, memorable interactions in broken English, which are always enjoyable when traveling abroad :)

Jit's website has instructions all about how to "Do It Yourself", which are here if you choose to do so: http://www.legallymarriedinthailand.com/information/do-it-yourself.html . I, however, highly recommend doing it the way we did it and hiring professionals who know what they're doing to help you. It's your wedding day. You don't want to screw it up by missing a step or not being able to actually get legally married because you forgot something. Plus, you want to enjoy your vacation instead of worrying about paperwork, right?

At the end of all that business, here's what you get: A beautiful marriage certificate in Thai and the experience and story of a foreign wedding process. And if you're really lucky, you also get a drop dead gorgeous, perfect wedding day of your dreams like we did. We haven't regretted for an instant any the choices we made and we would highly recommend eloping to anyone desiring a personal, private wedding. And going through the legal process abroad, whatever that might be and wherever you decided to get married, helps you experience the culture and interact with locals in a way that you otherwise might not have.

Gratitude

Our marriage certificate...in Thai! We can't read it, but we're pretty sure it's legit....lol

We did it!

Our wonderful wedding crew, all of which I would highly recommend. From left to right: Rachel (wedding officiant), Aiden (photographer: www.aidendockery.com), & Caz (www.foreverlovestruck.com)