About Ikebana Maldives
Ikebana is the Japanese art of placing a few stems so that line and space do the work. It is also a wedding-planning, event-production and floral-design studio in Malé, founded in 2014, with 800+ destination events on resort islands and yachts across the Maldives.
Ikebana Maldives is a wedding-planning, event-production and floral-design studio based in Malé. Since 2014 we have produced destination events across the country: weddings on resort islands, proposals on beaches, corporate retreats that run for five days, dinners on yachts. More than 800 of them so far. The name is the Japanese art of arranging flowers with line, space and restraint, and it is how we work: a few things, placed well, on an island that needs very little added.
One planner owns your event from the first call. The concept and theme are designed in-house, with 2D or 3D visuals so you see the scheme before anything is ordered. The vendors come from a group of 20+ local service and rental partners we have kept for years, each quoted at cost on its own line of one proposal. Your planner writes the rundown, holds the rehearsal the day before, and is on the island with the crew from set-up to the last song.
We believe the setting comes first. The Maldives does not need decorating; it needs respect, and a design should sit inside the landscape rather than on top of it. We believe an event should be personal, designed from who you are rather than from a package, which is why we do not sell one. And we believe in saying plainly what an island allows, what it will cost and how long it takes, before you commit to anything.
The team
Five people plan, design and produce every commission, with a crew of more than 20 on the island for a large programme. Led by Abdulla Nashid, the team is Maldivian, based in Malé, and works in Dhivehi and English.
Managing Director · Naashu
Nashid has planned and produced events in the Maldives since 2014, from ceremonies for two to retreats that run for five days, and he is the reason most planners abroad know the name. He leads Ikebana Maldives as managing director: in the room on the big days and on the phone the rest of the time. He is known for inventiveness, attention to detail and a quiet dedication to his clients. He is also, by some distance, the most modest person in the company.
Operations Director · Thaathu
Nasiu runs operations, which in the Maldives means boats, crews, schedules and the ninety small things that must happen before a seaplane lands. He gets things done and gets teams to do them with him, and he prefers results to reasons. Colleagues describe him as the person who will work past the deadline to make sure the thing is right. Away from an event he is with his friends and family, and December, by his own account, is not a month for holidays.
Event Production
Zaid oversees production for every event in the company: what gets built, who builds it, how it travels and when it goes up. His ability to run several projects at once is much of the reason we can take on programmes on different islands in the same week. He handles the complexity with an ease that is either practice or temperament, and keeps his sense of humour throughout, which on a set-up day matters as much as the schedule.
Event Designer / Planner
Suma came to Ikebana after freelancing in events, and brought with her the habit of clients coming back. She designs and plans weddings and celebrations, listens closely, and has a wide knowledge of the industries around ours, from photography to hospitality, that shows in her proposals. Her client reviews speak for her work and her Pinterest following speaks for her taste. She is also a devoted mother to her cats, who she maintains deserve a share of the credit.
Event Designer / Planner
Jana is the planner clients describe as calm, direct and quick. She designs and runs weddings and celebrations with a professional but relaxed manner that couples take to at once, and her colleagues know her as the one who acts rather than discusses. Her love of the ocean and of water sports is real, and it helps: she is at home on a boat, on a sandbank and in the weather, which is where most of our work happens.
“True success in event planning lies not just in orchestrating grand moments, but in the smiles and memories we leave behind in the hearts of those we serve.”
The supporting staff who build, carry, sail and set up are as much the company as anyone named here.
The planners we produce for, and the resorts we produce on.
Affiliations
Resort partners
A wedding, a styling brief, a celebration or a conference — tell us the dates, the island and what you have in mind. We reply personally within a day, and hold a proposal for five.
Your planner replies personally — 09:00–21:00 Maldives time.