Thai transgender actress Poyd Treechada weds businessman in traditional ceremony
BANGKOK – Actress, model and beauty queen Poyd Treechada, 36, married a businessman from an elite Phuket family on Wednesday.
The ceremony followed the traditional Peranakan style, which originated with the wave of Chinese immigrants to the region six centuries ago.
Poyd – whose full name is Treechada Petcharat – married Mr Oak Bhavagha Hongyok at Phuket’s Baan Ar-Jor. The 84-year-old Sino-colonial estate is a museum, a restaurant and the Hongyok family’s mansion.
Mr Oak’s family traces its roots back to the beginning of Phuket’s tin industry. The family patriarch – Tan Jin Nguan – was a Chinese immigrant who launched tin mining in the province and was bestowed with the royal surname “Hong Yok” for developing the industry.
After winning the Miss Tiffany and Miss International Queen beauty pageants in 2004, Poyd became a force in the entertainment industry in Thailand and the region. She has worked as a model, actress and performer in music videos.
In 2013, she made the leap to Hong Kong cinema, and had chances to work with stars there.
The bride and groom were attired in Peranakan wedding costumes that cost about 20 million baht (S$772,000) for a ceremony restricted to family and close friends.
Poyd wore a traditional bridal gown embroidered with gold thread, antique gold jewellery and jewels. She also wore a “hua kuan”, or flower crown, handmade with pure gold by artisans from Ranong province. The crown took three months to finish.
The wedding costumes of the bride and the groom took months to complete.
Poyd and Mr Oak, the brother of her best friend, have known each other for 20 years. She began using his family name at her bachelorette party in Bangkok in February. - THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
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