This Wedding Doubled as a Tour of Thailand, From Chiang Mai to Phuket
While we’re all currently social distancing and committed to mask wearing, this wedding took place before the coronavirus pandemic began. We hope it will bring some joy to your reading list.
“Matt loves to tell this long-winded—and untrue—story about how he hired me,” jokes Sita Chantramonklasri, of how she and her now husband Matthew Lee met at work. The two dated for about four years before getting engaged at Blackberry Farm, a resort on a 4,200 acre estate situated amidst the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. “We usually go once a year as a mini tradition,” Sita explains.
A few months after they moved back to New York following a stint in London, Matt planned a surprise trip there. “I suspected where we were going a few days earlier, but did not want to ruin his efforts!” she admits. “The day we arrived, he told me we were going to meet farmer John, who we adore, at the barn, but on the way, he took me to the boat house that was covered with sunflowers and candles, and he proposed. He jokes that even though I knew he was going to propose when we left our cottage, I chose to pack a cookie instead of a camera.”
After the engagement, they started planning their wedding in Sita’s home country of Thailand for February 16th through the 22nd. “We wanted to showcase the amazing food, beautiful flowers, and unique culture of Thailand, so we chose to highlight the specific aspect of each place, from Bangkok to Chiang Mai to Phuket,” Sita explains. “It felt more like a vacation with our family and friends than a wedding, which was exactly what we wanted.” The couple enlisted Easton Events to come up with and orchestrate their overall aesthetic, Wedding Bliss Thailand for on the ground planning, and I Am Flower for all of the florals throughout the weekend. All three vendors worked tirelessly to achieve the multi-day, multi-city celebration, which started in Bangkok. “They were a team of creative geniuses,” Sita says. Jose Villa and StoryBox Cinema were also there the entire time to capture everything in film and on video.
The bride tried to infuse that sense of creativity into her wardrobe as well. “Since I spend the vast majority of my time wearing somewhat boring neutral colored basics [due to my job working in finance], I really wanted to use this whole week as an excuse to dress up!” Sita says.
At the first event in Bangkok, Sita wore an embroidered pink Carolina Herrera gown. Then, for the Thai ceremony in Chiang Mai, she went with a traditional Thai outfit and jewelry. “The shawl had Matt and my names embroidered in it in Thai,” Sita says. For the reception that followed, she changed into a custom Asava gown. “He is an incredible Thai designer who went above and beyond to deliver what was really a dream outfit that sadly I will probably never have the chance to wear again!” Later in the week, when the wedding party traveled to their final destination in Phuket, Sita wore a custom Sahroo two-piece for the welcome party. “One of my close friends works for her and recommended her,” the bride explains. “I loved it as it felt a lot more like my personality. I like to wear pants.” For the rehearsal dinner the night before the western wedding, she wore a Giambattista Valli dress with soft floral undertones in nude pink.”
After going to countless wedding designers in search of the perfect dress for her Western ceremony, Sita realized that while she liked a lot of the ones she’d seen, none of them felt like they really fit her. “I had a pretty clear vision of what I wanted for my main gown for the Western ceremony so I knew I needed something custom,” she says. “I wanted it to feel traditional yet untraditional and unique to our relationship.” With the help of stylist Carrie Goldberg, Sita was able to create a custom dress with Hermione de Paula in London. The train of the dress had references to the couple’s story and travels sewn into it, and the designer incorporated a nude and blush floral garden on top of it. During the ceremony, Sita had a long-sleeve bodice on for a more traditional look, and for the reception, she took off her train so she could dance in her gown.
The Thai ceremony was formal and very special to the couple and their families. It started with a traditional gatecrashing parade: “Matt had to go through different obstacles, and each ‘gate’ was guarded by my bridal party,” Sita explains. “He had to do push ups, make up a rhyme or rap about me, pick which chicken bone was the one I ate, etc. My friends designed each obstacle, and it was absolutely hilarious. After the gatecrashing parade, Matt had to formally ask my parents for their permission for my hand in marriage and then we had a formal Buddhist monk blessing followed by a water blessing. We felt like it was really special for us to have our friends from abroad witness a whole different culture as well.”
