Eloping: On tying the knot without any guests — in a stunning location abroad
An expat's journey of organizing a 'small destination wedding' in Seychelles
Dubai: Eloping—Not in the traditional sense of secretly running away to get married, but in the modern sense — a couple choosing to tie the knot without any guests at the ceremony, often in a stunning location abroad.
My partner and I made the decision to do just that after I proposed in front of a giant Christmas tree at the Budapest Christmas markets two years ago.
While we both enjoy attending big, social weddings - celebrating and dancing the night away with friends and family - it wasn’t what we envisioned for our own special day. The thought of walking down an aisle in front of 100 people, then reading my vows with all eyes on me, sounded like a nightmare.
I’ve never been a fan of that kind of attention, as was evident at my mum’s wedding a couple of years ago. I was asked to walk her down the aisle, and my nerves got the better of me. I spent the entire walk staring at the ground, and when it came time to give her away, I completely bungled my response.
The official had instructed me beforehand to simply say, “I do,” but with all the pressure of everyone watching, I panicked and blurted out my full name: “Thomas Melvyn Wragg!” My brothers, their partners and my cousins in the front row burst into laughter, but I was mortified.
That experience solidified my aversion to being in the spotlight, and thankfully, my partner feels the same way. That’s why we chose a more intimate approach for our wedding - just the two of us, with no family or friends in attendance.
Our decision didn’t initially sit well with either of our mums, both of whom were disappointed they wouldn’t be there on our wedding day. However, they eventually came around and have now accepted our choice.
I had thought that breaking the news about our plans to marry alone would be the biggest challenge - along with convincing my fiancée to greenlight a Las Vegas stag do - but I was wrong.
Once we decided on the Seychelles as our wedding destination, we spent countless hours scouring the internet for the perfect hotel and beach for our special day. Nearly every hotel on the island offers a wedding package, each with its own pricing and add-ons.
Want a flower arch instead of a standard one? That’s extra. Need an officiant for the ceremony? Well yes, how else is it going to be an official wedding? How about someone to decorate your room afterward? A special dinner? Photos and videos? The list went on and on.
You get the idea: there were a lot of options, ranging from the simple to the extravagant. One of the most unique (and admittedly bizarre) offerings was the chance to have an underwater wedding - definitely not something we had in mind but each to their own!
There were also independent companies, separate from the hotels, that promised to handle everything for the wedding day - except for the hotel booking itself. Their websites made the process seem straightforward: all we needed were our passports and birth certificates. Simple enough, as we had both documents ready to go.
In the end, we decided to book directly with a hotel that offered us a great deal on both the wedding and a four-night stay on the island. Ideally, we would have stayed a full week, but since my fiancée is a teacher, that wasn’t possible.
To secure our wedding date - February 17, 2025 - we were asked to pay a deposit. Once that was done, we were officially booked. Although the hotel didn’t ask for them at the time, we proactively sent over copies of our passports and birth certificates along with details of the extras we wanted in our package. And just like that, everything seemed sorted.
Or so we thought. It occurred to me (far later than it should have) that we’d need to make our marriage official in the UAE. My initial assumption was that we’d simply have to get the wedding certificate attested once we returned from the Seychelles.
However, after scouring Google for answers, I found conflicting information. Most sources suggested exactly what I thought: we’d need to have the document attested at a court in Abu Dhabi. But some claimed we wouldn’t need to do anything at all - a woman from one of the wedding planning companies in the Seychelles even told me this over the phone!
Perhaps my Google skills were lacking that day, because when I revisited the search while writing this article, I found the correct procedure fairly quickly: the wedding certificate needs to be attested by the UAE Embassy in the Seychelles.
This wasn’t the answer I’d been hoping for. With only four nights on the island and our wedding scheduled for the final full day, how would we manage to get the certificate attested? Would there be time to do it before our flight? If not, would our marriage even be recognised in the UAE?
I contacted the hotel for guidance, but they seemed unaware of the requirement to attest the certificate at the UAE Embassy. After a lengthy back-and-forth, and a follow-up call the next day, they finally acknowledged this was necessary. Not exactly reassuring when the organisers of your special day don’t know the legal requirements!
The hotel’s solution? We needed to personally visit the embassy to get the certificate attested. When I explained that we likely wouldn’t have time due to our flight schedule, they suggested we reschedule the wedding.
Not ideal, especially since there were no other available slots during our stay. Frustrated, I reached out to several other wedding companies in the Seychelles, only to receive conflicting and unhelpful advice. Finally, I managed to speak to someone who seemed knowledgeable about the process for UAE residents marrying in the Seychelles.
The solution turned out to be far simpler than expected: we didn’t need to visit the embassy in person at all. Instead, we could send the wedding certificate to them and have it returned to us in the UAE via DHL. We promptly made the arrangements, and fingers crossed, that should be the end of our hurdles.
According to this specific source - buried on page 11 of Google, no less - this requirement for UAE residents has been in place since 2018. It’s baffling that so few people in the Seychelles seem aware of it!
So, to answer the question posed at the start of this article: no, the process hasn’t been simple at all. With any luck, though, the hiccups are now behind us, and our big day will go off without a hitch next February. Wish us luck!