Terms of service

This site is operated by Maldives Beach Wedding, a wedding operator based on Thoddoo, Alif Alif Atoll, Maldives, at Butic Goalhi, Thoddoo 09010. In these terms, “we” and “us” mean that business. “You” means the couple named on the booking.

You can reach us at maldivesbeachwedding@gmail.com. We reply within 12 hours. Anything we agree by email or on WhatsApp counts, as long as it is in writing.

We sell a symbolic beach wedding ceremony on Thoddoo, an inhabited local island in Alif Alif Atoll. Each package page lists exactly what is included in that package. What is written on the package page is what you are buying.

We can also arrange rooms on the island and speedboat transfers from Malé. Where we do, we are arranging them for you with a local guest house or boat operator. Their own terms apply to the stay and to the crossing, and we will pass those on to you before you pay for them.

What we give you is a celebration and a keepsake certificate. The certificate has no legal effect anywhere. It will not change your marital status, your name, your tax position or your immigration status.

Nearly every couple who books with us registers their marriage at home, usually in a short appointment at a registry office, and celebrates here. Some do it before they travel and some afterwards. Either way round is fine, and we do not need to see the paperwork.

We state this on every package page, in the FAQ, on its own page, and here. If you booked expecting a legally binding marriage, tell us immediately and we will refund you in full, whatever the stage of the booking.

There is no card payment on this site yet. Every booking currently begins as an enquiry, and the steps are these.

1. You send us an enquiry through the contact form or on WhatsApp, with the date you want and the package you have in mind.
2. We reply with a written quotation. It lists the package, the date, the number of guests, any extras, the tax line and the total. We reply within 12 hours.
3. You confirm the quotation in writing. Nothing is held until you do, and a date is never held on the strength of a conversation alone.
4. You pay the deposit by the method we set out in the quotation. The date is yours once the deposit reaches us, and we send you a written confirmation saying so.

Until that written confirmation arrives, you have no booking and we have no obligation to hold the date. Dates go to whoever confirms first.

Card payment on this site is planned. When it goes live these terms will be updated and the change will be dated on this page. Nothing in these terms promises a checkout that does not exist yet.

Every price on this site is in United States dollars and includes 17% tourism goods and services tax (TGST). TGST rose to 17% on 1 July 2025 and we have shown it at that rate ever since. The tax appears as its own line in the breakdown so you can see what it is, rather than as a surprise at the end.

The price on screen is the price charged. We do not add a service charge, a booking fee, a card surcharge or an admin fee afterwards.

Currency

United States dollars. Any figure shown in euros or pounds is an approximation for guidance only.

Tourism GST

17%, already included in every published price and shown as its own line.

Service charge

None on the ceremony.

Green Tax

USD 6 per person per night on accommodation on inhabited islands at properties of 50 rooms or fewer. It is a tax on your stay, not on the ceremony. See below.

Bank and card charges

Your own bank may charge you to send money internationally or convert currency. That charge is yours, and we never see it.

Green Tax. The Maldives charges a Green Tax of USD 6 per person per night on accommodation on inhabited islands at properties of 50 rooms or fewer, which is what Thoddoo has. It applies to your room, not to your ceremony. If we book your rooms for you, the Green Tax is shown as a separate line in your quotation. If you book your own rooms, the guest house will charge it directly, and we mention it here so that it is never a surprise.

Published prices can change. The price that binds us is the one written in your quotation, and once you have confirmed that quotation and paid the deposit we do not change it. A later price rise on this site does not reach a booking that is already confirmed.

These are the payment terms for every booking.

To hold a date

30% of the total, paid as a deposit.

Refundable for 14 days

The deposit is fully refundable for 14 days from the day we receive it. After 14 days it is non-refundable.

Balance due

30 days before the ceremony.

Booking inside 30 days

The full amount is due at the time of booking. The 14-day refund window still applies from the day we receive the money, or until the ceremony, whichever comes first.

If the balance is not paid by its due date we will chase it, twice, by email and on WhatsApp. If it is still unpaid seven days after the due date we may release the date and keep the deposit. We would much rather hear from you than do that, so if money is the problem, say so and we will work something out.

Weather is the exception to all of this, and it is not a small one. Nobody loses a deposit to rain. The cancellation and weather page sets out exactly what happens.

Cancellation, moving a date, weather and refunds are all set out in full on the cancellation and weather page, which forms part of these terms. In summary:

• You can cancel for a full refund within 14 days of paying the deposit.
• After that the deposit is non-refundable, and the balance is refundable up to 30 days before the ceremony.
• Moving your date once, with more than 30 days notice, costs nothing.
• If the weather takes the day, we reschedule within your stay at no charge and nobody loses a deposit.
• If we cancel for any reason of our own, you get everything back.

• Names spelled as you want them on the certificate. We print what you send us, so check it.
• A final guest count at least 14 days before the ceremony. Guests carry no additional charge, and twenty people in total is the maximum a ceremony seats.
• Arrival on Thoddoo at least one full day before the ceremony. Transfers are weather-dependent and a same-day arrival leaves no margin.
• Telling us about anything that affects the day: mobility needs, medical needs, dietary needs, or a guest who cannot manage a boat transfer.
• Valid travel documents and travel insurance. We cannot arrange either, and we cannot help if you arrive without them.

Everyone in your party must be 18 or over unless they are travelling with a parent or guardian who is.

Thoddoo is a working island of about 1,900 people. It is not a resort, and the ordinary law and custom of the Maldives applies everywhere on it.

• Shoulders and knees are covered away from the designated bikini beaches. Swimwear stays on those beaches.
• Alcohol is not sold or permitted anywhere on the island, and you cannot bring it in.
• Public affection is not customary in the village. Your ceremony on the beach is entirely your own, and this is about the walk through the village rather than the vows.
• Pork is not available on the island, and nor are narcotics of any kind, which the Maldives treats extremely seriously.

We tell you all of this again before you travel. If a member of your party behaves in a way that puts the ceremony, the island community or our staff at risk, we may stop the ceremony. In that case we do not refund. This has never happened, and we say it here only because it needs saying once.

Your photographs are yours. We deliver them as edited digital files, and there is no extra charge to print them, share them or use them however you like.

We would like to show some of them on this site, because a couple deciding whether to trust us needs to see real ceremonies rather than stock photography. We will only do that if you say yes in writing, and you can change your mind later. If you ask us to take a photograph down, we will take it down and we will not ask why.

Your answer makes no difference to your price. We do not offer a discount for permission, because a discount would turn a favour into a transaction.

Some things are outside the control of both of us: weather that closes the sea crossing, a cancelled or delayed flight, a boat operator who does not sail, illness, a government restriction, or a national day of mourning on which ceremonies do not take place.

When one of these stops the ceremony happening as planned, we will first try to move it within your stay at no charge. If that is genuinely impossible, we will refund everything you have paid us for services we have not delivered, including the deposit.

What we cannot refund is money you paid to someone else. Flights, your own accommodation, and any part of the trip you booked yourself sit with the company you bought them from, which is why we ask every couple to take out travel insurance.

We will deliver the ceremony described in your quotation with reasonable skill and care. If we get something wrong, tell us and we will put it right or refund the part we got wrong.

Our liability to you is limited to the total you paid us for the booking. We are not liable for flights, for accommodation we did not arrange, or for any loss that was not a foreseeable result of something we did.

Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be limited. Nothing in these terms takes away the statutory rights you have as a consumer at home.

Tell us while you are still on the island if you possibly can. Almost anything that goes wrong with a wedding can be fixed on the day, and almost nothing can be fixed a month later.

If that is not possible, write to maldivesbeachwedding@gmail.com within 28 days of the ceremony. We will acknowledge your complaint within three working days and give you a full answer within 14 days.

These terms are governed by the law of the Republic of Maldives, where the ceremony takes place and where we operate.

If you are a consumer in the United Kingdom or the European Union, this does not remove the protection of the consumer law of the country you live in, and it does not stop you bringing a claim there.

We update this page when what we do changes — for example when card payment goes live. The date at the top and the bottom of this page always tells you when it last changed.

The terms that apply to your booking are the ones published on the day you confirmed your quotation. We will not apply a later change to a booking that is already confirmed unless it is in your favour.