Helicopter wedding packages
Wānaka helicopter wedding packages and prices
Every published landing price from Wānaka Airport, by aircraft, with what a package covers, what it leaves out, and what the rest of the day costs around it.
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.
Short answer
A Wānaka helicopter wedding package is a flight, not a wedding. It is priced per aircraft, not per person, and a single landing from Wānaka Airport is published between NZ$1,700 and NZ$4,650 depending on which mountain you land on and which aircraft carries you. The nearer alpine sites sit at the bottom of that range; the glacier and Lake Lochnagar landings sit at the top.
Everything else, the celebrant, the marriage licence, photography, styling and any venue afterwards, is quoted separately. The section below prices the flight from the operator's own published table, then shows what a whole day adds up to.
Coromandel Peak above Lake Wānaka. Photograph: Wonder Weddings.
Every landing, priced
What each Wānaka landing costs, by aircraft
These are the wedding flight prices Wanaka Helicopters publishes on its own website, quoted per helicopter for a single landing departing Wānaka Airport. A flight to a venue rather than the airport, a second landing, or standby time on the ground are charged on top.
| R44, 1 to 3 people | Squirrel, 3 to 6 people | EC130, 3 to 6 people | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coromandel Peak | $2,250 | $2,550 | $2,850 |
| Mount Alpha | $1,700 | $2,150 | $2,500 |
| The Peninsula | $1,700 | $2,150 | $2,500 |
| Matukituki Valley | $1,750 | $2,250 | $2,550 |
| Fog Peak | $1,800 | $2,600 | $3,000 |
| Lake Lochnagar | $2,850 | $4,150 | $4,650 |
| Glacier landing | $2,850 | $4,150 | $4,650 |
Published as valid until June 2027, except Fog Peak, which is published as valid until June 2026. Prices change and packages are quoted case by case, so confirm the current figure and what it includes directly with the operator before you budget on it.
Sources Wanaka Helicopters · last checked 2026-08-23
Where the price comes from
Distance and altitude, not guest numbers, move the flight cost
A ridge fifteen minutes from the airfield and an alpine lake deep inside a national park are different flights. The head count changes the aircraft, and the aircraft changes the price.
Lochnagar's alpine water. Photograph: Wonder Weddings.
Inclusions
What a package covers, and what sits outside it
| Usually inside the flight price | Usually quoted separately | |
|---|---|---|
| The flight | Return flight from Wānaka Airport to the landing, and the pilot's time. | Departure from or return to a venue rather than the airfield, published from NZ$750 per helicopter. |
| The landing | The landing itself, and at Coromandel Peak the exclusive landing fee is stated as included. | A second or third landing on the same day, each priced as another flight leg. |
| Time on the ground | A stated allowance on the landing, commonly around an hour at the alpine sites. | Standby time beyond the allowance, charged by the operator. |
| The ceremony | Nothing. The flight is transport and access only. | Celebrant, marriage licence, witnesses, music. |
| The record of it | Nothing. | Photography and film, including their seats on the aircraft. |
| If it does not fly | A weather decision made by the operator, usually with a reschedule or credit. | The cost of holding your ground-level alternative on the same date. |
Package structures differ between operators and change over time. Treat the table above as the questions to ask, not as any operator's terms.
Fit
Which landing suits which wedding
Mount Alpha and The Peninsula are the shortest flights and the lowest published prices, and Mount Alpha is often flyable when higher tops are closed in. They suit couples who want the altitude and the lake without spending the budget on flight time.
Coromandel Peak is the most requested ridge above Lake Wānaka, and its published price includes the exclusive landing fee, so no other group is on the ridge with you. Read the Coromandel Peak wedding guide before you book it.
Matukituki Valley and Fog Peak trade the lake view for Mt Aspiring and deep valley country, at a modest step up in price.
Lake Lochnagar and the glacier landings are the longest flights and cost roughly twice a nearby ridge. They are worth it when the flight itself is the experience you are buying, not just the way in.
Total cost
What a helicopter wedding day actually costs
Add three fixed-ish lines to the flight and you have the real number. The New Zealand marriage licence is NZ$158, set by the Government. An independent celebrant who will travel to a remote site starts around NZ$500. Photography for a short alpine elopement starts around NZ$1,575 in Wānaka and rises with hours of coverage.
So a two-person ceremony on Mount Alpha with a celebrant and short photography coverage lands near NZ$4,000, while six people on a glacier with full-day coverage passes NZ$12,000 before anything is styled or catered. The Wānaka wedding cost calculator builds that from-to figure line by line, using the same published prices as the table above.
Weather, weight, fallback
The three things that decide whether you fly at all
Cloud base and wind are the operator's call, total passenger weight sets the aircraft and the number of trips, and the landing permission belongs to the landowner. Plan all three before you plan the dress.
Coromandel Peak in snow. Photograph: Wonder Weddings.
Ask in writing
Six questions before the deposit
- Which aircraft is quoted, and how many trips does our group need?
- Exactly how long do we have on the landing, and what is standby charged at?
- Is the specific landing approved for our date, and by whom?
- Who makes the weather call, at what time, and what happens next?
- Is the payment refundable, transferable or credited if we do not fly?
- Does the price include the landing fee, or is that separate?
A helicopter wedding that is planned well has a written second ceremony: a site, a time, a way for everyone to get there, and a decision deadline. The helicopter wedding guide covers how to build that fallback.
Talk to a planner
If you want the flight, celebrant and photography quoted as one day rather than three line items, ask a planner to put it together.
Planning by Wonder Weddings, an affiliated brand.
Reviewed by Cristian Batista, CEO and founder, Wedding Machine Group on .
Want this priced as a whole wedding day?
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.