High fives for their wedding

The wedding at the Museum Siam was exclusively for the media. for their traditional Thai wedding, the couple had the colonial-style museum building behind them as a backdrop and an antique car to pose with.

“I love the atmosphere of Rattanakosin Island and used to think if I ever got married, I’d want to have it here,” Koi said.

“People think we are dek naew [alternative artists] but we are traditionalists deep down. We’re proud of Thai culture and want to conserve it,” she said. “So for our morning photo session, we dressed in traditional wedding clothes. And we are so lucky to be the first couple to have a wedding here at the museum.”

Yong added that the museum is perfect as it is a place of memories and he believes their love will last forever.

Yong expressed his love through the wedding dress he made for Koi, saying he wanted to make something special for his bride and he thought the dress would be a perfect way to show that. “I studied for three months and put my heart into it,” he said.

The number five is also meaningful to Yong and Koi.

“We just love the number five,” she said, explaining why they set their wedding day for May 5, which on the Thai calendar appears as 5/5/55. They registered their marriage on May 25. And the number figured into the dowry Yong gave. He hinted that it’s filled with fives but when asked if it was Bt5 million, he just smiled and said his love for Koi is much more significant.

As much as Yong loves the number five, he’s said he wishes to have four children, which reporters teased him about, asking if he’d start toward that goal that very night.

Yong laughed and said that he was too exhausted from the wedding to start a family straightaway.

As they wrapped up, Yong wept as he thanked everyone and said he had never imagined that so many journalists would turn up.

“In my career, I’ve always been supported by the media but never before have so many come to one of my events.”