Skip to content
MoonlightIndian wedding planners · Marrakech
Couple seated together in navy and cream formalwear among lanterns

A Jain wedding, away from home

The ceremony travels without difficulty. It is the kitchen, the clock and the officiant that need arranging first.

A Jain wedding can be held in Marrakech without compromise, and the things that need arranging are not the rites. They are the kitchen, which needs to be separate and genuinely so, the clock, because many families do not eat after sunset, and the officiant, because a Jain muni will not be flying anywhere.

Who conducts it

A Jain wedding is conducted by a vidhikarak, a lay officiant, rather than by a muni. Jain ascetics do not travel by vehicle at all, so the question of flying one out does not arise, and it is worth saying plainly early because families occasionally assume otherwise and lose time to it.

Vidhikaraks travel, and most families bring their own rather than looking for one locally. Book the flight at the same time as the pandit's, not later, because they are the one supplier with no substitute.

The kitchen, and what separate has to mean

Jain cooking excludes meat, fish and egg, onion and garlic, and root vegetables, so no potato, carrot or ginger. A Moroccan kitchen is meat heavy by default, which makes cross contamination the real risk rather than intent.

The answer is a kitchen of its own, with its own pans, boards and oil, and cooks who are not moving between it and the main line. That is arranged as a matter of course where a family requires it, and it is specified as counts per event rather than as a note in the file.

Eating before sunset changes the schedule

Where a family observes it, dinner has to be served and finished before sunset, and in Marrakech that is close to seven in the evening in April and nearer six in November. A reception that starts at eight does not work, and the answer is not to rush it but to move it.

In practice that means the main meal sits in the late afternoon and the evening carries the celebration rather than the dinner. It is a better evening for it, and it has to be designed that way from the first schedule rather than corrected in month ten.

Brass thali of Indian dishes laid on a dark table with marigolds and candlelight

What to settle with the venue

Whether alcohol is served on the property at all, and if it is, where. Some families are comfortable with a bar away from the ceremony and dining, others are not, and it is a floor plan decision rather than a drinks decision.

Whether the kitchen can genuinely be given over, with its own entrance if possible. A venue that offers a corner of the main kitchen has not understood the question.

And the timing, in writing. A venue used to European weddings starting at four in the afternoon will schedule staff for an evening service, and a five o'clock dinner has to be in the contract rather than mentioned on the day.

Can you have a Jain wedding in Morocco?

Yes. The ceremony itself carries without modification, and the arrangements that need care are the food, the timing and the officiant. A separate kitchen with its own equipment and cooks is arranged for Jain menus, dinner is scheduled before sunset where the family observes that, and the ceremony is conducted by a lay vidhikarak who travels with the family.

Who conducts a Jain wedding at a destination wedding?

A vidhikarak, a lay officiant, who travels with the family. Jain munis do not use mechanised transport of any kind, so an ascetic will not be travelling to a destination wedding, and a vidhikarak conducts the ceremony in any case. They should be booked and flighted at the same time as the other ceremony arrangements, because there is no local substitute.

How does eating before sunset affect a destination wedding schedule?

It moves the main meal to the late afternoon. Sunset in Marrakech falls close to seven in the evening in April and nearer six in November, so where a Jain family observes chauvihar the reception dinner is served and finished before then, and the evening carries the celebration rather than the food. It has to be built into the first schedule, because venue staffing is contracted around it.