Real wedding, elopement
Tom + Lorena, Coromandel Peak, then Lake Alta in the Remarkables
A private, unhurried day with no guests: vows somewhere remote, time together in the mountains, and no traditional wedding structure to perform.
First kiss on Coromandel Peak. Photograph: Wonder Weddings.
- Format
- Elopement, no guests
- Guests
- Just the two of them
- Setting
- Coromandel Peak, then Lake Alta in the Remarkables
- Getting there
- Drive from their Wānaka accommodation to Wānaka Airport, then two helicopter landings
How the day ran
The running order
- MorningGetting ready at their Wānaka accommodation
- Before the flightA private first look in the garden
- Late morningDrive to Wānaka Airport
- Landing oneCeremony on Coromandel Peak with celebrant Liz
- Landing twoPortraits and champagne beside the tarn at Lake Alta
The parts worth copying
Weather, locations, trade-offs
The weather call
A two-landing plan is only as good as the day allows. Both sites are helicopter-access alpine locations, so the operator's morning call governs the flight, which is why the ground portion of the day (getting ready, the first look, transport) was built to work regardless of whether the aircraft flew.
Why the locations worked
Coromandel Peak is a ridgeline above Lake Wānaka looking towards Roys Peak and the Mount Aspiring range, and it is reached by helicopter rather than on foot. Lake Alta gave a completely different second backdrop, still water and sharp ridgelines, in the same afternoon, which is not achievable by road.
What they traded away
No guests, and no crowd. That bought total privacy and a calm timeline, but it also means the day has no reception, no speeches and nothing to run for anyone other than the two of them.
Talk to a planner
Want a day built along these lines? A planner can tell you honestly what is realistic for your date.
Planning by Wonder Weddings, an affiliated brand.
Credits
Who worked on the day
- Planning, photography and on-the-day supportWonder Weddings
- CelebrantLiz
Next
Guides that go with this story
Published by the owner on wonderweddings.co.nz with the couple's approval; retold here within the same scope. No prices and no private detail beyond that story. Source: Tom + Lorena, Wānaka helicopter elopement (checked 2026-08-22).
Planning something like this?
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.