Queenstown wedding photographer & videographer
Full wedding days in the South Island — vineyards in Gibbston, lakefront lawns, alpine ridgelines, and guests who flew in for it. We are Auckland based and travel south through the season.
This page is about full Queenstown weddings — a guest list, a venue, a reception. If you are planning something for two people and a celebrant, our Queenstown elopement guide is the one you want; it covers helicopters, ridgelines, vineyard picnics and astrophotography.
What makes a Queenstown wedding different from an Auckland one is not the scenery. It is that everybody travelled. Your guests booked flights and accommodation, most of them have never been, and they are treating your wedding as a holiday. That changes the shape of the weekend, the timeline of the day, and what the photographs need to carry.
Queenstown & Gibbston venues
Every venue name links to its own website. Capacities and pricing move constantly down here — check directly.
Stoneridge Estate
Lakeside chapel and a private estate ten minutes from town. The all-on-site option most couples look at first.
We have photographed here.
Jacks Point
The Remarkables straight down the aisle. The most photographed mountain backdrop in the country, and it earns it.
Millbrook Resort
Arrowtown. Accommodation, spa and multiple ceremony sites on one property — the easiest venue in the region for a guest list that flew in.
Amisfield Winery
Lake Hayes and one of the best kitchens in New Zealand. Food-led weddings start here.
Peregrine Winery
Gibbston. The wing-roof building is architecture you cannot get anywhere else, and it photographs like a set.
Gibbston Valley Winery
Wine cave, vines, on-site lodge. Gibbston’s largest-capacity option.
The Winehouse
Gibbston. Relaxed, garden-led, and more forgiving on budget than its neighbours.
Kinross
Gibbston. Cottages on site, five cellar doors in one place.
Mount Nicholas Station
A high-country sheep station reached by boat across Lake Wakatipu. The arrival is part of the day.
Trelawn Place
Above the Shotover, close to town, garden-scale rather than grand.
Kamana Lakehouse
Elevated above Queenstown with the lake and Remarkables in one frame. Hotel convenience, view of a lifetime.
Wanaka venues
An hour over the Crown Range. Quieter than Queenstown, and the lake does most of the work.
Rippon Hall
Vines running down to Lake Wanaka with Ruby Island beyond. Arguably the best view of any vineyard in the country.
Criffel Station
High-country station above Wanaka, wide open and private.
Lookout Lodge
Maungawera Valley. Manicured gardens, intimate scale.
Glendhu Station
Lakefront station land, and the drive in sets the tone.
Edgewater
On the lake edge in town. The practical choice when guests need to walk home.
The full venue guide — 60-odd venues across Queenstown, Arrowtown, Gibbston, Cromwell, Wānaka, Tekapo and Glenorchy, including which ones take just the two of you and which a helicopter can land at → We also keep a supplier guide — celebrants, florists, hair and make-up, and gown and suit hire, with published prices.
Five things a Queenstown wedding does differently
The weather is not Auckland weather, and it turns faster
Four seasons in a day is not a saying down here, it is a forecast. A ceremony site that was still and golden at 3pm can be in cloud by 4. What matters is that your venue has a real indoor option you have seen, and that your photographer is willing to move fast when a window opens. Some of the best Queenstown frames happen in the ten minutes after a squall clears.
Which locations actually work in bad weather →
Guests treat it as a holiday, and the weekend is the event
Almost nobody drives to a Queenstown wedding. They fly, they book three nights, they bring the kids or deliberately leave them at home. That means a welcome drinks the night before and a recovery brunch the morning after are not extras — they are where half your real photographs live, because that is when people are relaxed. Budget coverage across the weekend, not just the day.
Golden hour is longer, later and worth building the day around
The mountains hold light. In midsummer the sun is still working past 9pm, and the last hour before it drops behind the Remarkables is the best light in New Zealand. Almost every Queenstown timeline we see puts the reception too early and loses it. Plan to step out of dinner for fifteen minutes — every couple who does says it was the best decision of the day.
Sunrise, sunset and season, location by location →
Altitude and distance eat your schedule
Gibbston is twenty-five minutes from Queenstown. Wanaka is an hour over the Crown Range, longer if there is snow. Glenorchy is forty-five minutes on a road you do not want to rush. If your ceremony and reception are in different places, that transfer is the single biggest risk to the day — and the fix is either one property or a bus you booked months ago.
Or skip the road entirely — the helicopter landing guide →
Some of the best locations need permission
A lot of what people picture — lake edges, tussock ridges, Glenorchy’s paddocks — sits on either conservation land or private high country. Queenstown Lakes District Council manages ceremony bookings on reserves, and DOC has its own concession rules for commercial activity. Neither is difficult, both need asking early, and nobody publishes a simple answer. We will tell you what applies to your spot before you commit to it.
Our Queenstown guides
We kept answering the same questions by email, so we wrote them down. Real locations, real venues, real suppliers with published prices and working phone numbers. Nobody pays to be listed and we take no commission.
Location guide
- Twenty spots, with the light and season for each
- Which need a permit, which do not
- What to do when it rains
- The marriage licence, start to finish
Venue guide
- Seventy-odd venues, Glenorchy to Tekapo
- Which will take just the two of you
- Which ones a helicopter can land at
- Minimum spend — the cost nobody publishes
Supplier guide
- Thirteen celebrants across three districts
- Flowers from $320 for bouquet and buttonhole
- Gown hire $650, suit hire $299
- Hair and make-up who start before sunrise
Helicopter landing guide
- Where a helicopter can actually land
- What a landing costs, and who fits on board
- When there is snow, and when there is not
- What weather really does to a booked flight
Just the two of you? Our Queenstown elopement packages put the whole day together — celebrant, flowers, hair and make-up, and the helicopter if you want one.
An Auckland team who travels south
We are based in Auckland and shoot Queenstown and Wanaka through the season. That means we arrive the day before rather than the morning of, we scout your ceremony site in the actual light it will have, and we are not learning the road to Gibbston on your wedding day.
It also means we tell you the truth about which venues we know first-hand and which we do not. Of the venues on this page we have photographed at Stoneridge Estate. The rest are written from their own published information and from working in the region — not from pretending. Ask about yours and we will tell you plainly.
Before you book
Do you charge travel to shoot a Queenstown wedding?
Travel is quoted with your package rather than added afterwards, and we tell you the figure before you book. We fly down the day before as standard — that is not an upsell, it is the only way to scout your ceremony site in the light it will actually have.
When is the best time of year for a Queenstown wedding?
There is no bad answer, only trade-offs. December to February gives you the longest days and the latest golden hour, and it is also the busiest and priciest. March to April is our own favourite: autumn colour through Arrowtown and Gibbston, stable weather, thinner crowds. Winter is dramatic and genuinely cheaper, with snow on the Remarkables and a real chance of it on the road. September to November is unpredictable in both directions.
How far ahead should we book a Queenstown venue?
Eighteen months to two years for a summer Saturday at the well-known venues, and your guests need that lead time too for flights and accommodation. Autumn and winter are considerably shorter. Book the venue and the accommodation block in the same week — Queenstown fills, and a guest who cannot find a bed does not come.
Can we do a Queenstown wedding with guests and still get the mountain-top photos?
Yes, and it is the best of both. The usual shape is a full day with your guests, then a separate session — helicopter, jetboat or just a drive to a ridge — either the morning after or on a spare day in the trip. Nobody is standing around waiting, and you get the frames without cutting an hour out of your reception. Our elopement page covers how those sessions run.
Do you shoot Wanaka as well?
Yes. Wanaka is an hour over the Crown Range and a different feel — quieter, more open, and the lake carries the frame without needing a mountain behind it. If you are choosing between the two, tell us your guest count and how much driving your family will tolerate, and we will give you an honest opinion.
Do you film as well as photograph?
Both, with one team. Down here that matters more than it does in Auckland: two separate crews meeting for the first time on a windy ridge with a forty-minute weather window is how you lose shots. One team, one plan. See wedding films for what the edits look like.
What happens if the weather closes in?
We shoot it, and then we watch for the window. Queenstown weather moves — a squall at 3pm often means clear light at 6. What we will not do is let the day sit still waiting for perfect conditions. The plan we build with you has a wet-weather version and a fast-response version, and you will know both before the morning.
Are you based in Queenstown?
No — we are an Auckland team who travels south through the season, and we would rather say that plainly than imply we live there. What you get is a team that arrives early, knows the roads and the light, and shoots the rest of the country too. What you do not get is someone who can pop out to your venue on a Tuesday. If that matters to you, hire local, and we will say so.
Getting married in Queenstown?
Tell us the venue and the date. We will come back with an honest read on the timeline, the light and whether we have shot there.