Lao Weddings

Over the past couple of months GVI volunteers and staff have been invited to 2 different Lao weddings. We love receiving the beautiful gold invitations written in Lao script and many of us save them for mementos. The first Lao wedding that we were invited to in 2013 took place at a favorite restaurant of the volunteers- Lao Lao Garden. This restaurant is set on a hill with lots of paper lanterns, white Christmas tree lights, candles and greenery. The owner ordered red roses from Thailand and covered the tables in roses and white linens. All of us were sat together at the top of the garden so we could look below us and see the bride and groom dancing. We ate several dishes of traditional Lao food, we tasted lots of different kinds of fruit and drank Beer Lao. It was a beautiful setting for a wedding and very nice to see an everyday restaurant transformed into a stunning wedding venue!

The second wedding that we were invited to was for the daughter of the owner of our guesthouse. On Saturday monks and novices came to the guesthouse to chant and bless everybody then there was a simple dinner. But Sunday was the big day, starting off with a Bacci (ceremony) where everyone tied white strings around the bride and groom’s wrists then each other’s wrists. In the afternoon all of the female volunteers had their hair and make-up done by a local hairstylist. In the evening, the women dressed in Sihns and joined the men for dinner and lots of dancing! We can’t wait to be invited to another traditional Lao wedding.

Lao Weddings