Indian couples ask us the same two questions in the same order. Will it be legal, and can it still be a real Hindu wedding. The answer to both is yes, and the reason is that the two things are separate here rather than in competition.
The rule that shapes everything
Under Seychelles law a religious wedding is not valid unless the couple is civilly married. So the civil marriage is arranged first, with the registrar, and the religious ceremony follows.
Couples sometimes hear that as the state interfering in their rite. In practice it is the opposite. The civil registration is a short, quiet piece of business that can happen earlier in the week, which leaves the mandap ceremony free to be exactly as long, as traditional and as unhurried as you want, without a registrar's diary hanging over it.
What Seychelles asks you for
The Seychelles half is the same for everyone. Two foreign nationals need a valid passport and an apostilled birth certificate each, plus an apostilled divorce certificate if either has been married before or a death certificate if widowed. The banns run for eleven days. The government fee is SCR 3,000 on Mahe, Praslin or La Digue. Two witnesses must be present and we provide them. The certificate is issued within twenty four hours of the ceremony.
The pandit, and the temple on Mahe
Most couples bring their own pandit, which is by far the most common arrangement and the one we would suggest if there is someone your family wants. Flights and accommodation for them go into the budget early rather than late.
There is also an established Hindu religious presence on the island. The Hindu Kovil Sangam temple sits on Quincy Street in Victoria, the capital, and couples who would rather arrange a priest locally usually start there. Either way the mandap itself is normally built on the beach or in the resort grounds rather than at the temple.
Multi-day functions, and what they actually cost you
This is where an Indian wedding differs most from the two-person elopements much of this site is written for, and where the budget really moves.
Mehndi, sangeet and haldi each add a venue day and a catering day. If any function is on Praslin or La Digue rather than Mahe you are adding boat transfers for everyone and every piece of decoration, which is the cost people forget. One comparison we found rates Seychelles roughly twenty five percent harder to coordinate logistically than the Maldives, and that is fair. The islands are genuinely separate places, not resorts on a lagoon.
None of that is a reason not to do it. It is a reason to decide the island first and build the week on one base.
Flowers, food and the things families ask about
Marigolds are not local, so garlands are either flown in or substituted with tropical flowers that hold far better in the heat. We would gently suggest the substitution, because a garland that has travelled two days does not photograph the way anyone hoped.
Vegetarian and Jain catering is straightforward at the resorts that host weddings regularly, but it needs to be specified early and in writing rather than assumed.
Registering the marriage in India
Contact the Indian Embassy in Seychelles before the wedding rather than after. The certificate travels with the Supreme Court apostille and, where asked for, a Letter of Authentication from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Indian paperwork has extra steps and they are far easier taken in the right order than unpicked later.