Niyama Private Islands Maldives, planned from Malé.

There are no fixed packages. Every event at Niyama Private Islands Maldives is designed and quoted on its own, and a proposal with the full cost breakdown arrives within five days and is held for five. Our fee sits on its own line; the resort and the vendors are at cost on the others. Quotations include government taxes (GST) and the 10 % service charge. A 50 % deposit confirms production.

Most Maldivian resorts welcome an outside planner booked by the couple or the company, working alongside their own events team; a few run everything in-house. We confirm Niyama Private Islands Maldives' current policy with the resort within 24 hours of your enquiry, before you commit to anything, and if the island is closed to outside vendors we say so plainly.

The last 30 to 40 minutes before sunset, which falls between about 17:50 and 18:20 all year this close to the equator. We time the ceremony so the vows end as the light turns and the photographs happen in it; dinner follows as the short dusk ends. Sunrise is the quiet alternative, with the flattest water. Midday is for set-up, not for guests.

Niyama Private Islands Maldives is a 40-minute seaplane or domestic flight + speedboat transfer from Velana International Airport in Malé; our set-up team takes the same transfer, with the flowers in cooled boxes, the morning before the event.

The resort provides the venue, the food and beverage, the accommodation and, for a wedding, the celebrant. We handle the concept and design, the florals and styling, the vendors (photographer, film, music, cake, hair and make-up), the rundown and the hosting on the day. One planner, one consolidated proposal, one invoice for our side.

Dhaalu Atoll has two monsoons: Iruvai, the dry north-east monsoon, 28 November to 7 April, with clear skies and still lagoons; and Hulhangu, the wetter south-west monsoon, 8 April to 27 November, with taller clouds, short showers and dramatic evenings. December is the peak month and books first. We work through both; the plan, and the wet-weather venue, change with the sky.

Foreign couples cannot register a legal marriage in the Maldives, so a wedding at Niyama Private Islands Maldives is a symbolic ceremony or a vow renewal, with the paperwork done at home before or after. The resort's celebrant is used to it and the ceremony is no less real for it. Maldivian citizens marry through the Family Court, and we design the walimah and reception around it.