5 REASONS WHY I GOT MARRIED IN SEYCHELLES – LADIES WHO ONLINE

I got married a few years ago, and it was dreamy and beautiful. I’m not saying it just because it was my wedding (check out the photos if you don’t trust me). I still couldn’t believe I got wed in paradise. 

Here are the reasons I got married in Seychelles:

1. Expat friendly

Getting married can be stressful and time-consuming, especially for couples of different nationalities. As a Filipino expat living in Dubai with a British-Australian partner, one option for us was to get wed in the Philippines. To be fair, getting married where most of my family and friends are, is fantastic. However, all the documents, seminars and time needed are just too much for us to handle that we looked for a more accessible option. 

The initial plan (My Big Guy’s suggestion) was to elope in Las Vegas. Yes, you read it right! It would be a wedding ceremony officiated by Elvis Presley’s impersonator, and not the romantic beach nuptial that I’ve always dreamed of. But I thought, why not! The crucial issue we faced was getting a US visa for me. Since I stopped working for over two years, there was no longer any salary coming into my bank account, which is one of the necessary requirements in arranging for the visa. If we wanted to make that work, it would require us a minimum of 6 months, which we, unfortunately, didn’t have.

I heard about Seychelles weddings and searched more about it. The more information I got, the more clear to me that doing the wedding in Seychelles was the best option. The documents needed were just passport and birth certificate copies (a copy of your Divorce papers is necessary, if applicable), and that’s it! Your wedding coordinator can arrange attested papers for the legalisation of marriage in the UAE that will merely take only a few days. 

2. Visa – Free

Seychelles is a visa-free country, which means there are no visa requirements for any person wanting to travel to this beautiful country. How cool is that! Other nationalities might not quite understand this, but as a Filipino (who travels on a weak passport), the countries that I can travel visa-free are limited. So traveling to Seychelles was a huge plus. There’s no trouble in applying for a visa and waiting for one (while praying not to get rejected). All you need is to book your flights and hotel accommodation, and you’re ready to go! Easy peasy!

3. Wedding planning is easy and stress-free

Seychelles is becoming known for their beach weddings, especially for couples of various nationalities and religions who are living in GCC countries. With a few searches on Google, you’ll definitely find a wedding planner that will suit your preference and budget. I hired wedding-in-seychelles.com because of the reviews I read about them. They are not the cheapest, but the last thing I want is to worry about my wedding where I don’t have control over. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying the inexpensive ones are terrible. It’s just that My Big Guy and I didn’t mind paying a little more, as long as we can have peace of mind. 

We availed the luxury beach wedding package (includes the wedding ceremony at the beach, gazebo, cake, bouquet, officiant and so on), and added optional items (bridal hair and make-up, photography, cinematography, singer, scenic helicopter flight, report of marriage to Philippine Embassy in Kenya and so on). I never once got worried about what to expect there as I just put my trust in them. They literally took care of everything. Bernadette and Flory (our wedding coordinators) were very accommodating and patient with all my queries and requests. 

Our wedding coordinators have provided us with the itinerary for the wedding day, and we just went with it. Everything went smoothly except for a minor issue with miscommunication between them and Zil Air regarding the time of our scenic helicopter flight. Fortunately, the problem was rectified quickly that only caused us a 15-minute delay. Predominantly, we couldn’t be happier with how everything went. 

4. Cost effective

Having a destination wedding provided us with the options of either doing it by ourselves or with a handful of family and friends. We considered bringing our family to Seychelles. However, it would’ve cost us an arm and a leg since they are in the Philippines and Australia. On top of that, the logistics would be quite challenging, so we opted to do it by ourselves. 

However, two of our close friends in Dubai managed to join us. Looking back (and it may sound mean), I must admit, I’m glad we didn’t have many people with us. Not thinking of anyone and anything on our big day made us focus only on us (My Big Guy and me), which made the wedding more intimate. After all, getting married is about the bride and the groom. Let me be clear, we love our family, and having them around on our special day would have been excellent. But we will never feel as carefree as we were if they were there (just saying).

Seychelles is becoming a popular holiday destination in UAE since it’s only a 4.5-hour flight. Plus, it has plenty of vacation packages to choose from (from budget to luxury). So after lots of research and comparing costs, we secured an excellent deal from Holiday Factory for Seychelles and Mauritius. We were able to book 5-star hotel packages for 8 nights. We killed two birds with one stone by getting married in Seychelles (stayed 5 nights) and honeymooning in Mauritius (stayed 3 nights), all for the same cost of just staying in Seychelles the whole time. We wanted our big day extra special, so we upgraded our flight to Seychelles to business class (directly from Air Seychelles website through bidding) and upgraded our room in Savoy Resorts and Spa to Junior Suite (at the hotel upon check-in as it cost so much cheaper than upgrading through Holiday Factory).

5. Beautiful beach wedding 

Arriving at the beach where we got married wasn’t as expected, as it wasn’t a secluded shore. It’s a local waterfront that anyone can access easily. Thankfully, it wasn’t a busy coast, so it was easy to overlook what was going on with just a few people around. The setting where our wedding ceremony was held was picture-perfect. Anyone could get great photos even if you are a terrible photographer. The place had fine white sand, palm trees, clear turquoise water and blue skies. It made the beach look like a holiday advert.

The ceremony was very fast (if I’m not mistaken). It probably lasted for just 10 minutes because it was straightforward. Walking down the aisle, introducing the bride and groom, exchanging rings (no vows were exchanged on our end because we weren’t the romantic type), and signing of documents. And just like that, we were married (Bish Bash Bosh!). We also had a champagne opening and cake cutting, which were a lovely touch. By the way, the photoshoot and filming took longer than the wedding ceremony itself. 

I must say, DREAMS do come true when you least expect things… I HAD A BEACH WEDDING IN PARADISE!

It was indeed, the HAPPIEST day of my LIFE.