# Getting married in Bangkok & Ayutthaya

> A river city of gilded temples: vows by the Chao Phraya, portraits below Wat Arun at dawn, in the old town’s lanes and on a rooftop at dusk — and a day among the ruined temples of Ayutthaya, the old capital to the north.

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Bangkok grew along the Chao Phraya. On its east bank lies Rattanakosin, the old town, with the Grand Palace and Wat Pho; across the water, on the Thonburi bank, stands Wat Arun, the Temple of Dawn, its central prang more than 70 metres high and covered in pieces of coloured glass and Chinese porcelain. Downriver run the lanes of Chinatown, and behind them rise the towers of the business districts, with green spaces in between — Lumphini Park, laid out in the 1920s around its lake, and the wetland boardwalks of Benjakitti. About 80 km to the north lies Ayutthaya, the capital of Siam from about 1350 until it was destroyed in 1767, whose ruined prangs and monasteries are a World Heritage site.

Many couples who come from abroad marry legally at home and come here to celebrate with a few guests — a blessing, a dinner by the river — or simply for the photographs: in Thailand a marriage is legal only once a registrar records it — at a district office (the amphoe, or the khet in Bangkok) or, for a fee, at a place you choose — and a religious or beach ceremony alone is not a legal marriage. Portraits follow the light and the heat: the river and its temples at dawn, the old town’s lanes in the morning, a rooftop or a park in the last hour before dark, and Ayutthaya’s ruins on a day of their own.

## When to marry in Bangkok & Ayutthaya

- **Best:** January, February, November, December
- **Good with planning:** March

November to February are the easiest months: the driest — at the Bangkok Metropolis station only 1.5 to 5 days a month bring any measurable rain (0.1 mm or more), against 15 to 21 from May to October — and the least humid, with average highs of 32 to 34 °C and nights of about 23 to 25 °C. Bangkok is hot all year: December, the coolest month, still averages 32.3 °C in the afternoon, and April, the hottest, 35.7 °C, with nights that stay above 27. March is dry but already close to 35 °C. From mid-May to mid-October the rains set in: September, the wettest month, brings some 336 mm on 21 days, with thunder on about 11 of them. Haze is the cool season’s drawback — the station records it on 16 to 21 days a month from December to February.

- **The cool season:** From mid-October to mid-February the north-east monsoon brings drier air. The afternoons are still hot, about 32 to 33 °C, but the mornings are fresher and the skies clearer, with close to seven hours of sun a day in December and January. On the full moon of the twelfth lunar month, usually in November, Loy Krathong fills the river with small floating offerings lit by candles — a beautiful evening, and a busy one along the banks.
- **The hot season:** From mid-February to mid-May the heat builds, and in April the noon sun stands almost straight overhead: April averages about 36 °C in the afternoon and 27 °C at night, and the station has recorded 40.1 °C. Rain stays rare until May. Plan portraits for the first two hours of daylight and the last one, keep shade and water close, and choose light fabrics — the temples still ask for covered shoulders and knees.
- **The rains:** From mid-May to mid-October the south-west monsoon brings rain on 15 to 21 days a month, many of them with thunderstorms, and the sun shines only four to four and a half hours a day from July to September. The city turns green and the skies can be dramatic; keep a covered place in mind for every outdoor plan, and leave room in the timing.

## In numbers

- **Hottest month, average high:** April · 35.7°C — TMD: https://ubonmet.tmd.go.th/files/MetInfo/climate_normal.pdf
- **Average high in the best months:** Jan 32.7°C · Feb 33.7°C · Nov 33.1°C · Dec 32.3°C — TMD: https://ubonmet.tmd.go.th/files/MetInfo/climate_normal.pdf
- **Days with 0.1 mm of rain or more, best months:** Jan 2.6 · Feb 2.5 · Nov 5 · Dec 1.5 — TMD: https://ubonmet.tmd.go.th/files/MetInfo/climate_normal.pdf
- **Sunset on 21 June:** 18:48 (Bangkok) — NOAA: https://gml.noaa.gov/grad/solcalc/
- **UNESCO World Heritage:** [Historic City of Ayutthaya](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/576) (1991)

Weather station: Bangkok Metropolis, normals 1991–2020 · Checked 30 October 2026

## Where couples marry here

The kinds of places — ask your photographer which ones they know well.

- **Wat Arun and the river:** Wat Arun stands on the Thonburi bank almost opposite Wat Pho, and a small shuttle boat crosses to it from pier 8. It is quietest early in the morning and lit up after dark. Like every temple here it is a place of worship first: shoulders and knees covered (wraps can be rented at the entrance), shoes off in the halls, never stand higher than a Buddha image or turn your back on one, and women must not touch a monk or his robes. Ask the temple before a session with a photographer.
- **The Grand Palace and the old town:** The Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew, the temple of the Emerald Buddha, open daily from 8.30 am, with tickets sold until 3.30 pm and a strict dress code: no sleeveless or see-through tops, shorts, short skirts, tight or torn trousers. Visitors may take their own photographs outdoors and in the temple grounds, though not inside the Emerald Buddha’s hall, but the Royal Household Bureau’s rules forbid any shoot beyond tourism — pre-wedding photography is named — as well as lighting, wireless microphones and drones. Portraits belong in the old town’s lanes around it and in Chinatown, a short way downriver.
- **Rooftops and parks:** For the skyline, a rooftop high above the river or the business district at dusk — ask whoever runs it whether a photographer may come. For shade and green, Lumphini Park, the grand old park of the 1920s with its lake, or Benjakitti Forest Park, an urban wetland on the site of a former tobacco factory, with mangroves, boardwalks and an elevated skywalk 1.67 km long through the trees. Ask the park office before a session.
- **Ayutthaya:** The old capital’s ruins — towering prangs, brick monasteries, rows of Buddha images — make a long day trip, best begun early or carried into the evening, when the stone glows. Visitors’ own photographs need no permission, but under the Fine Arts Department’s rules a shoot with a hired photographer in the historical park does: ask the park office at least ten working days ahead. Never touch or climb on a Buddha image, or raise yourself higher than it.

## How the light falls

Well inside the tropics, Bangkok’s days hardly change: at midsummer the sun is up from about ten to six in the morning until ten to seven in the evening, out in the west-north-west, and at midwinter from about twenty-five to seven until about five to six; the earliest sunsets, in late November, come at a quarter to six. Dusk is short — the sky is dark some 23 minutes after sunset — so plan the warm light for the last hour: at five in the afternoon in December the sun is still about 11 degrees up. From late morning to mid-afternoon it stands high, almost straight overhead in April and mid-August, and the light is hard. Dawn on the river is the classic hour: from the Wat Pho bank the rising sun is behind you and lights Wat Arun’s face; in the evening it goes down behind the temple.

## Getting there

Suvarnabhumi, Bangkok’s main airport, is about 35 km by road east of the old town and linked to the city by the Airport Rail Link; Don Mueang, about 30 km north, has a station on the SRT Red Line to Krung Thep Aphiwat, the central station, from where trains reach Ayutthaya in about an hour. On the river, the express boats and the cross-river ferries beat the traffic. Every foreign visitor fills in the Thailand Digital Arrival Card online in the three days before arriving. A drone must be registered with the NBTC, the telecoms regulator, within 30 days of arriving, even if you never fly it; one with a camera must be registered with the civil aviation authority, CAAT, as well, with third-party insurance of at least a million baht and each flight approved through its portal at least three days ahead. No drone may fly within 9 km of an airport without approval, and none over the Grand Palace. In the rains, check the Thai Meteorological Department’s warnings before a day outdoors.

## Photographers in Bangkok & Ayutthaya

The first photographers in Bangkok & Ayutthaya are joining now. Tell our concierge your date and your plans — it checks who is free and fits.

https://lensandvows.com/photographers?region=bangkok
https://lensandvows.com/photographers?region=bangkok&sort=rating (Highest rated)

## Read before you plan

- [Getting married in Thailand as foreigners: the papers, the district office, same-sex couples](https://lensandvows.com/journal/getting-married-in-thailand): How couples who don’t live in Thailand marry there legally: the document from home that says you’re free to marry, its Thai translation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ stamp, registration at any district office, same-sex marriage since 2025, Buddhist blessings and symbolic ceremonies, costs, and registering the marriage back home. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/getting-married-in-thailand.md)
- [How to choose a wedding photographer: the steps, and the questions to ask](https://lensandvows.com/journal/how-to-choose-a-wedding-photographer): The decision in order — whole weddings, style, availability, the package, the contract and deposit, cancellation, delivery and a conversation — then a checklist of questions, with why each one matters. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/how-to-choose-a-wedding-photographer.md)
- [A wedding-day timeline built around the light](https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-day-timeline): Sunset decides more of your photos than you might think. Approximate sunset times by month, where golden hour fits, and two example timelines — one for June, one for October. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/wedding-day-timeline.md)
- [How deposits and payment protection work on Lens & Vows](https://lensandvows.com/journal/deposits-and-payment-protection): A 30% deposit holds your date; the balance goes straight to the photographer, or through us with payment protection. Every step, what each choice costs, and what happens if plans change. (Markdown: https://lensandvows.com/journal/deposits-and-payment-protection.md)