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How to plan a Wānaka wedding
Seven decisions, in the order that keeps them all reversible for as long as possible.
Short answer
Decide format and season, then the site and its wet-weather plan, then the legal steps, then suppliers, then the running order. Sites and celebrants are the scarce part for peak dates; the light dictates the timings.
Coromandel Peak, reached by helicopter. Photograph: Wonder Weddings.
The sequence
What to settle, and when
- 01
Decide the format before anything else
Elopement, intimate wedding or full wedding changes every other decision: which sites work, how much transport you need, how long the day runs. Choosing this last is the most common reason a plan has to be rebuilt. - 02
Choose the season, and accept its trade-offs
Summer gives you long evenings and the busiest calendar. Autumn gives colour and shorter days. Winter gives snow on the tops and the shortest usable light. There is no season without a compromise, only the compromise that suits you. - 03
Shortlist sites on access, not on photographs
Ask how vehicles reach it, where guests park, whether the route is step-free, and what happens in rain or high wind. A place that photographs beautifully and cannot be reached comfortably by your oldest guest is not a shortlist. - 04
Confirm the wet-weather option in writing
Not "we can move it inside" in conversation, the specific space, its capacity, and who decides, by when. Weather here changes fast enough that this must be settled months before the day. - 05
Handle the legal steps early
The marriage licence has a fee, a lead time and an expiry. Some ceremony sites need a permit or landowner permission. These have deadlines that do not move for you. - 06
Book the people whose diary is scarcest
Celebrant, photographer, and any single-operator supplier fill first for peak dates. Everything replaceable can wait; the irreplaceable cannot. - 07
Build the day backwards from the light
Set the sunset moment first, then the portraits, then the ceremony, then getting ready. Working forwards from a start time is how couples end up doing portraits in the dark.
Verified
The legal facts, with sources
- New Zealand marriage licence cost
A New Zealand marriage licence costs NZ$158.
New Zealand Government · last checked 2026-08-22
- Marriage licence lead time
Arrange the licence at least three working days before the ceremony.
New Zealand Government · last checked 2026-08-22
- Marriage licence validity
A licence expires three months after it is issued.
New Zealand Government · last checked 2026-08-22
- Overseas application
You can apply for a licence from overseas.
New Zealand Government · last checked 2026-08-22
Government fees and processing times change. Check the linked source before you rely on a figure.
Talk to a planner
Not sure which of these steps applies to your day? A planner will tell you what you can safely ignore.
Planning by Wonder Weddings, an affiliated brand.
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Reviewed by Cristian Batista, CEO and founder, Wedding Machine Group on .
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Wonder Weddings plans and runs weddings in Wānaka and the wider Southern Lakes. If you would rather talk it through than read another guide, start there.
Planning and photography by Wonder Weddings, in the same group as this guide.
This guide is written, maintained and funded by Wedding Machine Group, founded by Cristian Batista. Enquiries sent from this site go to Wonder Weddings, the planning and photography brand in the same group, and some readers become its clients. Heli Elopements and Eureka Films are also brands within Wedding Machine Group, sister companies, not independent recommendations.