The gentler sea, an hour by ferry.
Married on Praslin.
A complete legal wedding from €1,990 · ₹2,19,000 per couple, every government fee inside it.
Why couples pick Praslin.
Praslin is the second island and the calmer one. The reef sits further out, the water in the northern bays is flatter for longer in the year, and Anse Lazio, which is the beach in most of the photographs anyone has ever seen of Seychelles, is ten minutes from the hotels.
It costs more than Mahé and the reason is not glamour. The civil status officer comes across, the flowers come across, the cake comes across and the photographer comes across. The ferry is an hour each way and it is priced into the day.
Raffles is the property that takes a full wedding party here. Constance Lémuria is the other name families ask about, and it is beautiful, but it is a smaller operation for a ceremony of any size.
Your day on Praslin, with the real numbers.
The builder starts on Praslin. Move the island if you want to compare.
Côte d'Or for the party, Anse Lazio for the photographs.
Côte d'Or is the long north-east bay where most of the rooms are, and it is where a reception actually works. Anse Lazio is a twenty-minute drive over the hill and it is a public beach, so it is for the photographs rather than the ceremony unless the ceremony is very small and very early.
Vallée de Mai, the palm forest with the coco de mer, is fifteen minutes inland and is worth an hour of the day after the wedding rather than during it.
The ferry is the schedule.
Cat Cocos runs Mahé to Praslin in about an hour, several times a day. We put guests on a morning crossing the day before, never on the morning of, because a wedding that depends on a sailing is a wedding with one point of failure.
There are also fifteen-minute Air Seychelles hops from Mahé, which are the answer for elderly guests and for anyone who does not want the sea.
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.