Rich and Dallas Marry Texas and Thai at The Second Empire

Dallas and Rich are a delightful couple and this blog about their ceremony on Love Toast Blog was so wonderful I wanted to share it as is.  Thanks to their photographer,  Kate Connolly, for her great pictures. 

Rich is from Thailand and Dallas is from, you guessed it, Texas and this was a wedding not to be missed.  We combined Thai tradition with very much their own style for their delightful wedding at The Second Empire in Raleigh.  I loved how they truly claimed the ceremony as theirs and expressed their love with tenderness and fun.


At the beginning of the ceremony we had a Thai ceremony called 'rod nam sang' in which guests poured holy water from a conch shell over the couple's hand and offered them a blessing upon their marriage.  'Rod nam' means soak with water and 'sang' is the name for the Conch Shell that is used in the ceremony.


You'll also see pictures of another special part of their wedding.  The bride and groom wear garlands round their neck and kneel and while a senior elder in the bride's or groom's family says a few words and anoints them on the forehead.


Another Thai ceremony at their wedding is when the couple kneel ‘wai’ as a specially prepared white thread, ‘sai monkhon’, is looped and used to link together the bride’s and the groom’s heads. It is symbolic that the thread forms two circles which whilst linked, also remain independent. This indicates that the couple’s destinies are linked, but individual identity is retained. The circle is also symbolic because of its continuity and the fact that merit can be carried around in the circle.  The thread is then torn on the side until it breaks and whoever has the longest piece is supposed to be the one whose love is deepest.


Then we continued with the more traditional elements of the ceremony.  We all loved how Rich would tear up and Dallas would whisper funny things to him to balance those very tender emotions of the moment.  And there was much hooting and hollering of congratulations at the end.


They had so much fun at their wedding and everyone else did, too.  It was small and intimate so no one hesitated held back with tears, laughter or blessings.

You'll enjoy reading about it, too!  They're a wonderful couple.  I send them many blessings!