“The Andamans was the first destination we travelled to together,” says Bhatkhalkar. He and Wade had visited the island in December 2020. “I loved the place from the moment we landed. We enjoyed every bit of it: the ferry ride, the dives, the clean air, exploring Havelock. It was my first diving experience and I’ve grown to love diving since,” says Bhatkhalkar. “When we were picking a wedding destination, we had a bunch of options to consider, including Scotland and Italy. But we eventually came right back to the Andamans.”
Planning a wedding in the Andamans
The recce
Tharwani and Shaadi Squad co-founder Saurabh Malhotra took about 6-8 trips to the Andamans in the months leading up to the wedding for recces and planning. At the time, there were no direct flights between Mumbai and Port Blair. “Our day would start at 4.30am so we could take the first 6am flight to Chennai, followed by the onward flight to Port Blair,” Malhotra explains. “Then, it would be a 1.5-hour ferry ride to Havelock, followed by the drive to the wedding venue.” The couple picked Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Andamans as the venue for their celebrations. “We would finally reach the hotel by 6.30pm, so it was pretty much about 12 hours of travel.” Malhotra and Tharwani knew they had to find ways to make the travel far smoother for guests.
The transport
Fortunately, by the time the wedding dates came around, IndiGo had launched direct flights between Mumbai and Port Blair. The planners made a group booking for the 85-odd guests (close family had already flown into Port Blair a few days prior) on the non-stop IndiGo flight for the morning of Day 1 of the celebrations. Instead of relying on regular ferries at Port Blair, they chartered a 250-seater ferry—a move that would offer them more flexibility with time, along with greater convenience for guests. The planners opted for a ferry by local ferry service Makruzz, which had also organised ferries for the G20 summit. To avoid any confusion related to luggage, all guest bags were tagged at Mumbai airport with names and room numbers and transferred separately by the Shaadi Squad team directly to the hotel. “We didn’t want guests to have to load and unload their luggage from the ferry, as that would require more time and increase the likelihood of chaos and confusion at Port Blair. Our team managed to handle it all, so that guests’ bags reached their respective rooms even before the guests had checked in,” says Malhotra. “In the end, we didn’t manage to save a lot of travel time, but we did manage to make the travel seamless and convenient throughout.”
