Our Time In Queenstown

Unbeknown to us, New Zealand is a hot spot for an elopement wedding…

and we were engaged…

We decided to send a couple emails, ya know, just to see how easy it is to plan a wedding in NZ.

A celebrant, Sean Joyce, got back to us and said that getting married is very easy in NZ and we could sort it days if we wanted to. He offered a Zoom call the next day, which we accepted.

We really liked Sean!

Within 24 hours Stew and I had

– got engaged

– bought two wedding bands, made with NZ gold from a local jeweller

– tried on, picked wedding attire and hired it, ready to be posted to Christchurch

– contacted a florist and a hairdressers

– booked a celebrant

– booked his recommended photographer

And set a date, the 5th October.

It was happening.

The weather in NZ is beautiful blue skies one day, grey and raining the next. The turbulence of the weather makes an outdoor wedding a little risky, but everyone involved was happy to give us some flexibility on date. If Thursday is going to be a washout, well do it Wednesday or Friday instead.

It’s super cost effective aswell.

But better than that, it felt like the absolute perfect wedding for us.

A wedding was another stamp on the adventure making this incredible trip more memorable than it already was and it really cut out a lot of wedding-stuff that we were both less enthused for (thousands and pounds on meals, expensive venues, speeches, first dances, fuss around planning, pleasing 100+ guests.) And my biggest concern, buyers regret over a day that can easily creep into £20k.

It’s just not our bag.

I worked out costs and with rings, a dress, a suit, a celebrant, photographer, flowers, two witnesses (costing two nice bottles of wine), a hairdresser, nice hotel and celebratory meal, Stew and I could be Mr and Mrs all for ~£2,500. We will be married outside, on a hill in true elopement style and I could not wait.

And we could’ve done it a lot cheaper than that; we definitely got a bit stung on the wedding attire, but I couldn’t risk finding stuff in Christchurch as we’d arrive just days before our wedding. Hiring in Queenstown meant I was definitely sorted!