Sinsod; The Wedding Dowry in Thailand

Sinsod is an amount of money that is paid to the family of the bride. The amount that the groom is expected to pay depends on a number of factors. This is an issue that causes a lot of confusion among westerners; especially those that are thinking of marring a Thai national. The attitude towards the wedding dowry in Thailand will be greatly influenced by the background of the bride; some families will take the whole issue seriously while others are more relaxed about the whole thing. Personally, I did not pay any sinsod because my wife's family felt that I needed the money more than they did.

The purpose behind the sinsod is to repay the family for raising your wife; she will be leaving their family and starting a new one with you. Traditionally it was felt that some type of compensation should be paid for this exchange. The sinsod is also a way for the groom to demonstrate his financial wealth and what a good catch he is for his bride. These days this is one of the real purposes of the wedding dowry in Thailand. It gives the bride's family a chance to show off what a great husband their daughter has managed to attract and what a great job they have done at raising her. It is usual for families to put the sinsod on display during the wedding ceremony as a way of impressing the neighbors.

The exact amount that you will be expected to pay for sinsod will depend on so many variables that there is no way to give an exact figure. It will be influenced by the bride's social class, her education, her career, and on many occasions how much the family believe the husband can afford. There have been cases where westerner's have paid outrageously high amounts to wedding dowry for a ceremony that later turned out to be a sham. If a family is demanding millions of baht for their daughter and she had little education and only makes a few thousand baht a month from her work then they are being unreasonable. Don't allow yourself to be pushed into giving amounts you are uncomfortable about. As mentioned above, in many cases the wedding dowry is purely used for its face increasing quality, and the family might be willing to return it as a gift after the ceremony; you might want to make this clear before you get married.