Renewing Your Vows in Thailand

Resorts and planners across Thailand publish vow renewal ceremonies, and a couple reading those pages can still be unsure what the ceremony changes. A vow renewal is a ceremony in which two people who are already married say their promises to each other again. It is not a wedding. This article sets out what a renewal in Thailand does, what it does not do, and the one legal question a couple already married in another country should settle first.

If you plan to register your marriage in Thailand, our marriage registration service covers the documents, the legalization and the district office for one fixed fee.

What a vow renewal changes in law

A vow renewal changes nothing in law. It restates a marriage that already exists. It does not create a second marriage, it does not extend the first, and it does not move the date of the marriage you already hold. No register records it, and no government office takes part in it. Thai law makes a marriage in one way only. Section 1458 of the Civil and Commercial Code requires the two people to declare their consent openly in front of the registrar, and requires the registrar to record that consent. In practice the registrar is the official at the district office who keeps the marriage register. A ceremony led by a celebrant or by monks is not held in front of a registrar, so it makes no marriage.

What a vow renewal is for

The reasons couples give are personal, and they are good reasons. Some are marking an anniversary. Some married in one country and want the people who could not attend that ceremony to be present this time. None of these reasons needs a legal purpose to be worth the trip.

The Thai blessing couples choose

The Thai ceremony planners publish for a renewal is a Buddhist blessing. It is held inside a temple. Monks chant, the couple lights candles and incense, and the head monk gives the blessing. A water-pouring ritual follows, the rod nam sang, and our article on Thai wedding traditions explains that ritual and the others in full. Planners publish the same blessing at a first wedding as well. The blessing does not depend on the genders of the couple, and planners publish it for same-sex couples.

What a renewal does not require

A renewal needs no documents. There is no affidavit to obtain, no certified translation, no legalization, and no appointment at a district office. An affidavit is a written statement sworn in front of an official. Legalization is the step in which the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs certifies a document and its translation for official use. You do not need witnesses either. The date is yours to choose, because no government office has to schedule it. Some venues hand the couple a blessing certificate at the end. The venue that issues it calls it non-official. It is a keepsake, not a government record.

Couples already married in another country

Some couples arrive with a marriage already registered somewhere else and ask whether they can also register one in Thailand. Thai law answers half of that question plainly. Section 1452 of the Civil and Commercial Code says that a person may not marry while that person already has a spouse. That is the wording given to the section by the 2024 amendment, which opened marriage to couples of any gender. The rule is the reason Thailand asks each partner to prove they are free to marry, and the reason a singleness document sits in every couple's document set. A singleness document is the paper from your own country showing that you are not currently married to anyone.

The other half of the question is whether Thai law treats a same-sex marriage celebrated in another country as an existing marriage for the purpose of that rule. That is not a question to settle from a website. Write to us before you book anything, and we will look at your case first. A vow renewal raises none of this, because a renewal is not a marriage at all.

Where Pride Legal fits

Pride Legal Thailand registers marriages. We do not sell ceremonies, and we do not need to, because Thailand's celebrants and planners are already very good at them. Our work is the legal half, which is the documents, the translation, the legalization and the district office. Pride Legal Thailand was created to become the platform for the LGBTQ community around the world looking to get married in Thailand, and the promise is that this legal half is plannable from abroad and completable in a single trip. If your question is whether a renewal is all you need, or whether a Thai registration is open to you as well, that is a legal question and it comes before the venue.

Pride Legal Thailand arranges the registration of marriages in Thailand for two people of any gender and any nationality. The fee is ฿49,000 (~1,480 USD) for both partners, fixed, with VAT and government fees included; registration outside the Bangkok region costs ฿10,000 (~300 USD) more.

To register your own marriage in Thailand, tell ELSA your nationalities and your dates on the Marriage page: she lists your documents and your timeline, and our lawyer confirms the plan. The steps in order: how two foreigners can get married in Thailand.

Sources

Civil and Commercial Code of Thailand, Sections 1452 and 1458.

Act Amending the Civil and Commercial Code (No. 24), B.E. 2567 (2024), the Marriage Equality Act, Royal Gazette, volume 141, part 58 Kor, 24 September 2024.