The Fiji Wedding Guest Playbook

Your guests need a passport, a return ticket, a flight into Nadi, and a booked transfer for the last leg — which on an island can be a two-to-four-hour boat day. Most nationalities are issued a visitor's permit on arrival. Everything else is the couple's job to communicate early, clearly and in writing.

Which flights get your guests to Fiji, and how long do they take?

Almost every guest lands at Nadi International Airport (NAN), close to Denarau, the Port Denarau boat terminal and the Queens Road — the arrival point for the Mamanucas, the Yasawas, the Coral Coast and Pacific Harbour. Tourism Fiji publishes indicative nonstop times to Nadi: roughly 3 hours from Auckland, 3h45 Wellington, 4 hours Christchurch, 3h15 Brisbane, 4h30 Sydney, 5 hours Melbourne, and about 10h30 from Los Angeles or San Francisco. Frequencies and fares move seasonally — give guests the airport code and let them price it.

Nausori Airport (SUV) matters only if the wedding is in Suva; Fiji Link flies Nadi–Nausori. Check when each guest lands — island boats leave in the morning.

Do your guests need a visa for Fiji?

Fiji's Ministry of Immigration lists New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada among its visa-exempted countries. Those citizens do not apply in advance — they are issued a visitor's permit on arrival, for a period Immigration says "may vary from several days up to a maximum of four months". One two-month extension is possible, at a published fee of FJ$93. Immigration also expects a valid passport, a confirmed return ticket, proof of funds and accommodation confirmation — so tell guests to carry the booking on their phone.

This is a guideline only — confirm current requirements with Fiji Immigration (immigration.gov.fj) before you book.

How does each guest get from Nadi airport to your wedding?

Paste this into your guest email. Times are what operators and properties publish; where nobody does, it says so.

Two sources disagree on the morning ferry: Yasawa Adventures says the Yasawa Flyer leaves Port Denarau "by 8.45am"; Blue Lagoon says 8.30am. Plan against the earlier time.

For road legs see transport operators, Coastline Fiji and Coral Coast Transfers & Tours. Coaches, meet-and-greet and manifests are in moving groups around Fiji, which applies to 40 wedding guests too.

What does an outer-island wedding really do to your itinerary?

Be honest before booking. An island wedding means a boat day for every guest, both directions. The catamarans run a morning departure and an evening return, so an arrival day and a departure day go — and neither is a wedding day.

A guest landing after the morning departure either charters a boat or overnights in Nadi. Water taxis exist — Mamanuca Express publishes a 24-hour service to the Mamanucas and lower Yasawas, and Seafiji appears on resort transfer pages — but charters are priced accordingly.

Air transfers buy time and impose a different limit. Turtle Airways publishes seaplane capacity of six passengers with a combined weight limit of 460kg departing Nadi — people and luggage together. Helicopters fly in daylight only; Likuliku notes no arrivals before 8am.

So design around it: arrival day, wedding day, departure day, welcome event on the arrival evening, nothing within three hours of a boat.

How do resort room blocks and attrition actually work?

A wedding room block is a group booking in nicer language, in two shapes. A courtesy block is rooms held, unsigned, at an agreed rate until a release date; unsold rooms return to general sale and the couple owes nothing, but nothing is guaranteed. A contracted block is rooms the couple signs for: it protects rate and availability and exposes the couple financially for rooms that do not sell. That is the attrition clause, and the most important paragraph you will sign.

Four things sit around the block, and must be read rather than assumed:

• Minimum-night stays. Vomo Island Fiji publishes a four-night minimum for wedding couples, three for group weddings, and hosts weddings only for in-house guests.
• Exclusivity. InterContinental Fiji publishes one wedding a day, and a buyout of 50 Club InterContinental suites in published seasonal windows.
• Final numbers. Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort publishes a guest-count deadline of 30 days prior — that locks catering, not rooms.
• Deposits and cancellation. Rarely published — ask for the schedule in writing.

Then do the maths. Forty adults, mostly couples, is about twenty rooms. Ask three questions and get the answers into the contract: how many rooms are held, until when, and what do we owe if only twelve book?

On the mainland a courtesy hold is usually enough. In the Mamanucas and the Yasawas, where a property may have thirty rooms in total, a contracted block is often the only way to hold them.

Who pays for what, and how do you say it?

Outrigger, for one, publishes children at 50 per cent of buffet cost and nannies on request; get your property's equivalent in writing.

Which Fiji properties actually work with children?

Properties publishing children's programmes include Plantation Island Resort (Coconut Kids Club), Malolo Island Resort (Khail's Club, Tia's Treehouse), InterContinental Fiji (Planet Trekkers) and Hilton Fiji Beach Resort & Spa.

Properties stating on their own sites that they are adults-only, and so cannot host your nieces and nephews: Likuliku Lagoon Resort, Tokoriki Island Resort, Lomani Island Resort & Spa, Matamanoa Island Resort (16 and over) and Navutu Stars Fiji (children over 11). Re-check the day you send your save-the-date.

"Family-friendly" is more than a kids club: a wadeable beach, a step-free room and a short transfer matter more with a two-year-old, and the mainland wins on all three. Where to stay in Fiji and Fiji's islands guide go deeper.

What does a guest with limited mobility face at a Fiji resort wedding?

Almost nobody covers this, and it decides whether a grandparent comes. Boarding: catamarans board from a pontoon, island resorts are often reached by tender — a step down into a moving boat — and jetties are frequently narrow, stepped and unrailed. Sand: a beach aisle is soft sand, which a wheelchair will not cross without a mat. Rooms: bures are often raised, with a step at the door and a lipped bathroom. Distance: resorts run buggies, but ask whether one reaches the ceremony site at ceremony time.

Accessible Fiji, a subsidiary of the Rosie Travel Group, publishes accessible transfers and tours, accessible hotels and equipment hire, and a vehicle lift capacity of 300kg. Start there.

Ask these in writing, with photographs of the route:

1. Is there a step-free route from room to ceremony, reception and restaurant?
2. Is the room door wide enough, and is the bathroom entry level or lipped?
3. How does that guest board the transfer boat, and is there a tender?
4. Can the ceremony be on lawn, deck or chapel rather than sand?
5. Is there buggy transport after dark?

What should guests know about money, health and staying connected?

The general version is in practical Fiji. The wedding version is short.

Money. Everything is priced in Fijian dollars. Cards work in the main precincts but acceptance thins on smaller islands, and a guest who lands there with no cash has no easy fix. Draw FJD before boarding.

Connectivity. Buy a SIM or eSIM at Nadi, not after the crossing; island wifi ranges from good to ornamental.

Health. Hospital capacity is concentrated on Viti Levu — a real argument for a mainland venue if you have elderly guests. Insist on travel insurance in every message.

What should the couple actually send, and when?

Four messages do the job. Copy and fill the brackets.

1. Save the date (12–18 months out)

We're getting married at [venue] in Fiji on [date]. Please save it — and read on, because this is a trip, not a party. Guests fly into Nadi International Airport (NAN); from there it is [transfer and approximate time] to the venue. Plan on [x] nights minimum. Costs and booking details come on [date] — please don't book flights before then. Most nationalities are issued a visitor's permit on arrival; confirm your own with Fiji Immigration.

2. What this trip will cost you

We want to be straight with you about money. You pay for: return flights to Nadi, [x] nights at [venue] from about [FJ$xxx] per room per night, your transfer at about [FJ$xxx] return, travel insurance, and anything you choose to do there. We cover: the welcome event on [day], and the wedding day. There is no gift expectation — you flying here is the gift.

3. Booking instructions (about 9–10 months out)

Bookings are open. Rooms: we hold a block at [venue] under "[booking name]" until [release date]. Email [address] quoting that name; after that date the rooms return to general sale and we cannot protect the rate. There is a [x]-night minimum around the wedding date. Flights: into Nadi (NAN), arriving [date]. Land after [time] and you will miss the [transfer] and must overnight in Nadi at your own cost. Transfers: book at the same time as your room. Insurance: take it out when you book.

4. The week before

One week to go. Bring: passport, a saved copy of your resort booking, insurance details, reef-safe sunscreen, repellent, and Fijian dollars drawn at Nadi airport. Getting to us: your transfer is [details, point, time] — be there by [time], it will not wait. Dress: [dress code]; the ceremony is on [sand/lawn/deck], so heels are [a good idea / not]. On the day: ceremony [time] at [location], drinks [time], dinner [time]. Anything urgent, call [name] on [number].

Mainland or island — which should you choose?

Choose a mainland venue — on Denarau Island, in Nadi, on the Coral Coast or at Pacific Harbour — if your list includes small children, anyone with limited mobility or a health condition, guests arriving at odd hours, or budgets that need a price range. Road transfers run all day, so a late flight is an inconvenience, not a crisis. Outrigger Fiji Beach Resort and Shangri-La Yanuca Island suit it.

Choose an island — in the Mamanucas or the Yasawas — if your list is adults and older children, everyone arrives the same day, and you will run a tight itinerary. Castaway Island Resort, Mana Island Resort & Spa and Vomo Island Fiji sit at different points on that scale.

Choose Suva only if the wedding is family-driven and Suva-based, and fly guests into Nausori. Grand Pacific Hotel Suva is the landmark there.

What is the practical next step?

Pick the precinct before the property: it decides the transfer, and the transfer decides the guest experience. Browse Denarau Island, the Coral Coast, the Mamanucas and the Yasawas, shortlist two, then put the questions above to each.

Then line up the rest: operators at transport operators, including Go Local Fiji and Yasawa Adventures Fiji, plus Fijian wedding traditions and Fiji wedding food and drink. Still deciding? 10 reasons to get married in Fiji makes the case; the Fiji honeymoon guide covers what comes after.