The short answer is that you need very little time, and you certainly do not need to be a resident. Seychelles has no residency requirement. It has just two timing rules, and both are gentle. By law the notice of your marriage, the banns, is published for eleven days beforehand, and you must be on the islands at least two days before the ceremony. The eleven days can be waived, and almost every visiting couple waives them, so a wedding within a few days of landing is completely normal. We take care of that part. Your only real job is to get your documents to us early.
The eleven-day notice, and the licence that waives it
Left alone, Seychelles publishes your banns for eleven days before the wedding, the same reading of notice used in many countries. Almost no visiting couple waits that out. Instead we apply for a special marriage licence, which the Civil Status Office normally issues within about two days and which carries a small official fee of five hundred rupees, and it lets you marry without the eleven-day wait. This is the single reason a Seychelles wedding can happen so soon after you arrive, and arranging it is a routine part of what we do for you.
How long you actually need to be here
The law asks you to be in Seychelles at least two days before the ceremony, which is also just the sensible minimum. A comfortable plan is to arrive two or three days ahead. That gives you a day to shake off the flight, time for the small registrar formalities, and an unhurried wedding day rather than a rushed one. Many couples then stay on for the honeymoon, so the whole trip is a week or two with the wedding near the start. You can marry on the third day with weeks of islands ahead of you, or marry near the end, whichever suits your plans.
The part that really matters, documents early
The relaxed timeline only holds if your paperwork reaches us ahead of time. The registrar needs your birth certificates and passports, and depending on your situation a certificate of no impediment or a police certificate, plus any divorce or death certificates, and each foreign document must be translated into English or French and carry an apostille. Getting those apostilled at home is the slow part, not anything on the island, so send us scans early and we prepare the licence and file everything before you fly. Our documents page lists exactly what your situation needs.