Choosing A Wedding Venue

The choice of wedding venues in New Zealand can almost be a little overwhelming, as you can get married pretty much anywhere that you want to. Here are a few wedding venues to help you get started:

• Stay at home – Using your own home, backyard or garden for a lovely intimate wedding. This is an excellent choice for smaller weddings and small budgets. You could also ask close family members owning larger properties, if you can use their house or gardens. Be clear about who's doing what work though, as the provider of the wedding venue is not necessarily signing up for the catering and entertainment too!
• Stay local – If you want to minimize travelling time and maximize time spent celebrating, staying local to your home is a good option. Investigate local parks, beauty spots, gardens, lakes, beaches, mountains for their suitability. Many parks have seating and gazebos which can be very handy especially for elderly or infirm guests.
• Go scenic – If you want your wedding venue to be particularly memorable, why not scout wedding venues such as a historic castle (Larnach Castle), famous New Zealand landmark (SkyTower), a Maori marae, island (Stewart Island), beauty spot (Wanaka, Fiordland) – if nothing else, you'll have a lot of fun doing it!
• Go overboard – Don't forget that you could your 'wedding venue' could also be on a plane, on board a cruise ship or up in a hot air balloon.
• Go overseas – Combining your wedding venue with a honeymoon overseas is an increasingly popular choice, but expect few guests due to the added expenses.

Wedding Venue Shortlist

Thankfully, there are a few practicalities to consider that can help you narrow your wedding venue choices including:

• Your wedding venue budget
• The number of guests you are inviting
• The availability of your preferred wedding venue
• Your wedding season (e.g. do you need a plan B for bad weather?)
• The proximity of wedding venues for your ceremony and reception, if different
• Indoor and outdoor flow (and space enough for everyone if it rains)
• The arrangements for catering and entertainment.

More About Wedding Venues

View NZ Wedding Guide's wedding venues information, or return to NZ Wedding Guide's main page.