I Do, I Do, I Do! - Queenstown Wedding Boom

They’re spending anything from $5000 to $10,000 on couple elopements through to hundreds of thousands of dollars on grand weddings, as Queenstown’s popular wedding industry bounces back with a boom.

In 2019 the Queenstown wedding industry brought in just under $140 million to the local economy and Queenstown Wedding Association president and wedding planner Sarah Arkin estimates that the amount for the 2022-23 year will “far exceed that” with rising costs and increased demand. It’s an industry that’s hugely undervalued, she says.

Most local wedding businesses are currently experiencing anywhere from a 50 to 100 percent increase in business compared with what was an already busy 2019.

“The wedding industry injects an incredible amount of income every year into the Queenstown economy,” says Sarah. “We estimate it’s injected a minimum of tens of millions of dollars into the local economy in just the last four months,” says Sarah.

Local wedding vendors have been under a lot of pressure to keep up with demand these past four months as the borders have opened and couples are playing catch up after Covid restrictions saw so many weddings postponed or cancelled.

Prior to Covid times Queenstown’s lucrative wedding industry was already all a bustle with an estimated 1150 weddings in 2019. While most vendors managed to stay afloat by relying on Kiwi weddings these past few years, Sarah says business has now already well and truly surpassed 2019.

“We already have a lot of enquiries coming through for dates as far out as the end of 2024 and into 2025.” With so many weddings having to be pushed out until 2022 due to Covid, last year was probably the busiest year the Queenstown industry had ever seen, says Sarah. “And this year will likely be just as busy.”

Some popular local wedding venues and suppliers have waitlists with couples booked in over a year out and staff in short supply, but Sarah says everybody is pitching in to help each other out.

Weddings are a high value visitor industry and they create a high value return with many couples returning year after year for anniversaries after their big day. Most weddings involve overseas guests who, once introduced to Queenstown, will often return with their own friends and families in future as well.

Queenstown’s definitely on the map as a sought after destination wedding location and the high quality of venues and suppliers here, allows the town to cater for a huge number of elopements, right through to the big budget, large guest list affairs.

Wedding celebrant Philippa Thomas says the last three months of last year were the busiest she’s ever seen – “off the charts”. “It was just a whirlwind for everyone. “We’re definitely on the cusp of having to turn away bookings all through this year. They’re fluid right through winter. There’s no shoulder season,” she says.

There are bulk bookings from Australians and Filipinos with a Philippines movie star getting married here pre-Covid and causing a ripple on effect. Queenstown is also a popular wedding destination for Singaporeans, Americans and Brits. Kiwis, who’d have normally gone overseas, are now opting for Queenstown. There’s still a lot of live streaming to friends and family overseas, especially with the large number of elopements.

An Australian Canyon Swing wedding in late 2020 had to be cancelled due to Covid, but Philippa’s officiated at a paragliding wedding, a three-day Hindu affair, and pretended to be a magician at a surprise wedding.
Many vendors are fully booked for a year with popular dates booked several years in advance. “Weddings happen here every day of the week,” she says.

Photographer Kate Roberge has been shooting some weddings that have been in the making for four or five years, after they’d been planned for 2020 and delayed by lockdowns and restrictions. She’s fully booked until April next year with a lot of Australians among those couples. While larger weddings are coming back, Kate says many couples are putting more emphasis on the experience now and having 50 to 80 people at their

favourite accommodation, restaurant or property, often using clear marquees and beautiful views.
“Couples are being a lot more intentional, having a signature cocktail with all their best friends. It’s really individualised. They’re not following Pinterest, but what they want to do.”

Less time is being spent flying to mountain top photo shoots. “They’re spending 15 minutes for photos, rather than an hour in a helicopter, and getting back to the people who are important to them now,” says Kate. “For many it’s the first time in three years they’ve had all their special people together.”

It’s exciting how quickly the wedding industry has made a comeback, says Kate. “Last January we were all operating at 50 percent of the norm and we’ve gone from 50 percent to 110 percent.”

Kate’s not only in demand locally. She shot a 250-person wedding in Auckland in December and is being flown to Mexico, Italy and her homeland of Canada to shoot weddings this year already.