Context: a girl from an upper class family has met the man her parents want her to marry. At the end of the evening, she tells him:
この度のご縁ありがたく思っております。
I get that this is a super polite way of saying thank you, but I don't quite get what she is thanking him for. Something along the lines of "this wonderful occasion/evening"?
「この度{たび}のご縁{えん}ありがたく思{おも}っております。」
From this sentence alone, one could not say that the speaker is thanking the other man any more deeply than she is showing gratitude for the opportunity to have been able to meet him.
If she were thanking any particular person(s), it would be everyone involved (the guy, her parents, etc.).
Something along the lines of "this wonderful occasion/evening"?
This "opportunity", perhaps, but certainly not "this evening". 「縁」 does not refer to a particular time frame like "this evening".
