February 14 — Valentine's Day in Bangkok

February 14 — Valentine's Day in Bangkok: Bang Rak vows and red roses

On a recent February 14 — Valentine's Day in Bangkok — 3,265 couples registered their marriages. Of those, 1,246 married in Bang Rak, the 'village of love', at a mobile registration desk in the Jewelry Trade Center on Silom Road. On the day, some buy flowers for the couple and others for someone riding home from work at dusk, and the choice shapes which rose to send.

Bang Rak on the fourteenth: roses for newlyweds and for the ride home

February 14 is not a public holiday in Thailand, yet the city marks it all the same. The office towers of the business district line Silom and Sathon roads, in Bang Rak and Sathon; by day couples queue here to register their marriage, and by evening the same streets fill with people leaving work.

For a couple marrying on the fourteenth, white suits better than red. Flower-language dictionaries link white to purity, though no single agreed list exists, and 11 White French Roses suits that choice.

Red follows a different route home. It travels more often in the hands of someone leaving an office on Silom or Sathon at dusk, or is sent ahead to a house or flat for the evening. One local custom matters here: gifts in Thailand are given and received with the right hand.

In Thai flower tradition an orchid signals friendship and support, not romance, and a lotus belongs at the temple as an offering, not as a romantic gift. That leaves the rose as the flower that speaks of love on the fourteenth.

Red says passionate love in most flower-language dictionaries, and 11 Red French Roses carry it in a single bunch, meant for a partner rather than a friend.

A softer statement comes in pink. 15 French Roses "Jumilia" have a bud up to seven centimetres across, white at the base and edged in pink, and with proper care the bunch holds in a vase for up to two weeks. The word 'French' names a technique, not a variety: a florist bends each outer petal back by hand to open the flower wider.

Where red feels like too strong a statement, mixed bouquets with hydrangea and lisianthus soften the colour without dropping the occasion. The fourteenth falls inside the city's dry, cool months, and caring for flowers between the street and the air-con covers the rest.

What rides with the roses: Valentine's flower delivery in Bangkok

For a hotel room or a desk in a Sathon tower, a hat box of roses travels better than loose stems: the flowers sit in wet foam and need no vase on arrival. Strawberries can be added to the order, with a card written in your own words tucked in free.

Valentine's flower delivery in Bangkok gets busy on the day itself. The delivery page marks the fourteenth as a peak day, with far more orders than usual and wider delivery windows; nobody promises an exact minute, so it is worth placing the order a few days ahead. The florist photographs the finished bunch before the courier leaves, and the courier hands it over in person with the card, the sender's name left off if asked.

Delivery is free within central Bangkok; elsewhere it is priced by delivery zones.

The simplest way in is by colour: French roses in red, white or with a pink edge cover most of what the fourteenth asks for. For a dining table, a hat box holds the stems without a vase, and strawberries can go alongside it.