Helicopters
Wānaka helicopter weddings: flights, locations and fallbacks
The most photographed way to marry here, and the one with the most conditions attached. Plan for the flight, and plan for the day it does not happen.
Short answer
Flying puts you somewhere you could not otherwise stand, usually for a short ceremony with a small group. It depends on weather, wind, cloud, total passenger weight and landing permission, so the single most important part of the plan is the written alternative if the flight is called off.
Above Lake Wānaka near Roys Peak. Photograph: Wonder Weddings.
Before you book
The five things that decide it
| Why it matters | Confirm in writing | |
|---|---|---|
| Weather and wind | Cloud base, wind and visibility all have operating limits, and mountain conditions change quickly. | The decision time, who makes it, and what happens next. |
| Passenger weight and seats | Total weight and seat count set how many people can fly and in how many trips. | How many landings your group needs, and the cost per landing. |
| Landing permission | Landing sites depend on landowner or managing-authority permission, not just the operator. | That the specific site is approved for your date. |
| Time on the ground | Alpine sites are usually short visits, and the schedule belongs to the aircraft. | Exactly how long you have, and what happens if it shortens. |
| How the price is quoted | A flight price is not a wedding price. Landings, extra trips and waiting time may all be separate. | What is included, what is extra, and the refund or credit policy. |
Helicopter wedding video
What a helicopter elopement day looks like
Before you commit to multiple landings, watch one. This trailer follows a New Zealand helicopter elopement across four sites in a single day, the loading, the walking in, the wind, and how little time each landing actually holds.
Plan B
Assume, once, that you will not fly
Couples who plan a helicopter ceremony well have a second ceremony fully designed: a site, a time, a way for everyone to get there, and a decision deadline. Couples who plan it badly have a hope.
The most requested landing here has its own guide: read about planning a Coromandel Peak wedding before you compare operators.
Write the alternative down alongside the flight, and tell your celebrant, photographer and guests both versions. A cancelled flight then costs you a view, not the day.
Talk to a planner
If you want a fallback plan written before you book, ask a planner to draft one with you.
Planning by Wonder Weddings, an affiliated brand.
Reviewed by Cristian Batista, CEO and founder, Wedding Machine Group on .
Want a flight plan with a real fallback?
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.