The island that needs nothing shipped to it.
Married on Mahé.
A complete legal wedding from €1,645 · ₹1,81,000 per couple, every government fee inside it.
Why couples pick Mahé.
Mahé is where the aircraft lands, where the civil status office is, and where every property that has set a mandap before is. Nothing about a Mahé wedding has to cross water, which is why it costs less and why it goes wrong less often.
The south-west of the island is the quiet half. Petite Anse, Anse Louis and Baie Lazare are twenty to forty minutes from the airport and feel like a different country from Victoria. The north-west, around Beau Vallon and Glacis, is livelier, closer to the Indian kitchens, and it is the coast that stays calm from May to September when the trades are up.
For an Indian family this is also the only island where the food question answers itself. Mahek at the Coral Strand on Beau Vallon cooks Jain and Indian fine dining, and Maharajas at Eden Island is ten minutes from Victoria. On Praslin and La Digue that layer is much thinner.
Your day on Mahé, with the real numbers.
The builder starts on Mahé. Move the island if you want to compare.
Four coasts, one hour apart.
The whole island is 27 kilometres long. Whichever coast you marry on, the rest of it is a drive, not an expedition, so guests can be spread across two hotels without anyone feeling exiled.
For a ceremony in the calm months, April to May and October to November, take any coast you like. From June to September choose the north-west. From December to March choose the south and east. That is the whole rule, and we apply it to your date before we suggest a beach.
Civil at eleven, pheras at five.
The pattern most of our Indian couples land on: the civil ceremony in the late morning with the two witnesses and the photographer, lunch, then the religious ceremony in the last two hours of light. The mandap goes up while you are at lunch.
Sunset on Mahé is between 6 and 6.30 all year, which is unusually early and unusually consistent. It is worth knowing when a muhurat is being set.
Weddings we have actually shot here.
The questions that matter.
Is a Seychelles wedding legally valid in India?
Yes. A civil marriage registered in Seychelles is a marriage. You are given a marriage certificate, and the supplementary package adds a Supreme Court apostille to it, which is the form Indian offices ask for. India has been a party to the Hague Apostille Convention since 14 July 2005, so nothing further is needed after the apostille.
Can we have a mandap and pheras, or only a beach ceremony?
Both, and most of our couples do both. The civil ceremony is short and it is the one that makes you married. The Hindu ceremony is the one your family came for. Five properties on these islands set a mandap and cook Indian: Four Seasons, Kempinski, Anantara Maia, Raffles and Hilton Northolme.
Who conducts the religious ceremony?
Most families bring their own pandit, which is the arrangement we would suggest: the person who knows your family should be the person at the fire. If you would rather we asked locally, say so early and we will ask. We will tell you what we find, including if the answer is no.
Will there be Jain and vegetarian food?
Yes, and it does not need a fight. The hotels above cook to a brief when the kitchen is told in advance, and Mahé has real Indian kitchens outside the resorts. Jain requirements need notice rather than luck. Tell us at the enquiry and it is arranged before you land.
When should we get married here?
April to May and October to November. Those are the two windows when the trades have dropped and the water goes flat, so a beach ceremony is a beach ceremony rather than a wind report. If your muhurat falls elsewhere in the year, we move the coast rather than the date.
Send us the date.
Or the month. Meera writes back with what the tide, the wind and the calendar allow.