Eva and Thorben from NRW got married on La Digue at the beginning of October 2023 and had booked me as their wedding photographer for two days.
Every now and then I am asked whether a wedding in the Seychelles is also legally recognized in Germany, Austria or Switzerland. Yes, of course it is! But of course it is! Otherwise there wouldn’t be so many couples getting married in the Seychelles and wanting to be photographed by me. 😊
We were already in the Seychelles in 2019 and simply fell in love with the islands! It was always clear to us that we would come back. When we asked ourselves how we wanted to spend our wedding day, we quickly realized that we wanted to have this day exclusively for ourselves. We love traveling and so the idea of combining the two quickly became a reality.
We flew with Condor because we really like the non-stop connection. It’s a long flight anyway, we didn’t want to waste any time waiting at night at an airport for the onward flight. However, Condor was not necessarily the best choice in our particular case, as we found out. We were able to gather from some other interviews on this site that both Qatar and Emirates have no problem taking garment bags with the wedding attire into the cabin. This was not possible with Condor. Despite several phone calls and emails, we were not allowed to take it with us. We have still not received a reply to our written request, which we were supposed to make after one of the telephone calls. In the end, we stowed our clothes in two hand luggage trolleys and took them on board with us. However, this meant that we were hardly able to take any “real” hand luggage with us, and great care was taken to comply with the regulations. As we were only allowed 20 kg of checked baggage, we had to be very careful when packing. You simply take more with you when you pack for a wedding.
Our wedding was a dream! The sky was bright blue to match the wedding ceremony, the colors were glowing. It couldn’t have been more beautiful! We were taken to the wedding beach separately because our “first look” was only to take place on the beach. That was absolutely the right decision. It was probably the moment we will remember the most!
The ceremony lasted about 10 minutes, then the official part was over. Afterwards we toasted, of course in proper style with a coconut (Takamaka was a must ;)), and we cut our wedding cake. We can highly recommend the mango-coconut flavor! 🙂 Meanwhile, the first photos were taken on the wedding beach. After about an hour, we left the beach to take photos on the east coast. By the afternoon, many photos had already been taken and we took a well-earned break. In the evening, we went to Anse Source D’Argent to take more photos at sunset. The day ended with a barbecue on the beach.
If everything were that simple… :D. All we needed was an international birth certificate, a certificate of no impediment to marriage and a copy of our passports. We sent all of this by email to the registrar in the Seychelles, who immediately confirmed that everything was complete. That’s it then!
Apart from the luggage problem before departure, everything worked perfectly. The wedding planner set up everything on the beach exactly as we wanted it. The decoration was beautiful! The transportation between the individual photo spots was also superbly organized, including the barbecue in the evening. We could simply rely on him so that we could concentrate 100% on our wedding and the photo shoot with Torsten.
We saw you back then in the WDR documentary Wunderschön together with Tamina Kallert. This documentary was the impetus for us to travel to the Seychelles. When we started planning our own wedding, we naturally looked at pictures of you on the internet. We just love your pictures because you go to extraordinary places with your couples and the colors of your pictures are so bright. Just like on site, where all the colors simply look much richer than here. We agreed that if we decide to have such an extraordinary wedding, then we also want the best souvenir photos you can get!
Definitely yes! We often leaf through our photo book. Sometimes it feels a little unreal that we have actually stood in all these places. One of the pictures is now hanging behind acrylic glass in our living room.
First of all, I would say that the two days of photography were quite adventurous. 😀 We climbed a lot, which was sometimes easier and sometimes less easy. In retrospect, we are surprised where you can get up even with wedding clothes.
Of course, we were very overwhelmed by our wedding beach, Anse L’Union. The photos with the small island in the background almost look a little fake! The Fotoman Rock and the waterfall on Praslin were also highlights. On Praslin, we also spent some time taking photos at Anse Volbert. That was a fantastic beach!
We will never forget our photo shoot at the Praslin waterfall, which had to be abruptly interrupted because an employee of the park was convinced that we were not allowed to be there. He made such an annoyed impression that we saw each other in wedding attire at a police station for the rest of the day :D. In the end, however, we were let off the hook. And luckily a few photos were taken!
Our “sprint” up the monolith in the L’Union Estate was also adventurous (it was quite a steep climb!). The view was great! And the fact that you change your clothes at the highest point in the park while people are standing far below pulling out their cell phones makes you smile. 😉
We stayed at Le Repaire, which we can absolutely recommend! The price-performance ratio is right. The rooms are comfortable and the staff were very friendly. The hotel has a beautiful garden and also a beach area where you can drink one of the delicious cocktails in the evening (the Creole Rum Punch is highly recommended!). We also ate on site on the first evening. The pizza was great! Our room was beautifully decorated on our wedding day. The cleaning service was also practical. So the shirt was fresh again for the second day of photography :).
Our trip began on La Digue, where we spent nine days. We then flew over to Mahé with the island hopper and spent another five days there. Both islands have their very own charm, on Mahé you can do and discover completely different things. But our heart still beats for La Digue. We love the relaxed nature of the local people, the great restaurants and takeaways and the fact that you can easily get around by bike. This gives the island a very relaxed character!
As already mentioned, we would definitely recommend Le Repaire.
On Mahé, we stayed at the Valmer, just like in 2019. We were very impressed by this during our last trip. It is in a great location, from the room you have a beautiful view of Baie Lazare. This time, however, we were rather disappointed as the hotel was a bit run-down. A cupboard door was missing, the window in the bathroom was covered with masking tape and the cushions on the pool loungers were moldy. Unfortunately, it was very neglected in some places, considering that it is not a cheap accommodation.
We will definitely be back! And of course the first thing we do is visit La Digue again. Next time, however, we have decided to spend the second part of our trip on Praslin, as we only know the island from day trips. The beaches there are also simply beautiful. And we would like to take a trip from Praslin to the island of Cousin.
Because you give me the most beautiful souvenir photos :). An event like this must be captured in beautiful photographs so that you can remember it for a long time to come. You weren’t just a photographer, you gave us good tips beforehand on what to look out for, put us in touch with the wedding planner and the registrar and left no question unanswered. We were able to fly to the Seychelles with peace of mind because we were sure that everything was well organized. The only uncertainty was the weather and unfortunately you don’t have that under control either… But in the end we could also say “Luck is with the stupid!” :D. Thanks to you, we got to know La Digue from a different perspective, because we discovered places that we wouldn’t have found without you!
Everyone who sees our pictures tells us that we have done everything right. And we see it the same way! It was a day that will definitely be remembered for a long time. The wedding suited us 100%. That day was about us and no one else. And that was exactly what was important to us! If you still have any doubts, we can only give you one tip: DO IT!