Wānaka Elopements by Helicopter
All-inclusive elopements flown from Wānaka into Mt Aspiring country — ceremony, celebrant, photography and film, planned around your date and the weather.
Why elope in Wānaka
Wānaka is the quieter half of the Southern Lakes. It trades the bustle of Queenstown for glaciers, empty valleys and a town that stays small — and it puts Mt Aspiring National Park directly on your doorstep.
- Straight into Mt Aspiring country
- Wānaka sits at the doorstep of Mt Aspiring National Park. Glaciers, hanging valleys and the Matukituki headwaters are a short flight from the airfield, not a long transit over farmland.
- Quieter, in every sense
- Fewer aircraft movements and fewer people on the ground. If the thing you want most is silence at the moment you say your vows, Wānaka is often the quietest option we fly, depending on conditions and traffic on the day.
- A slower town to come home to
- A small lakefront, a handful of very good restaurants and somewhere to sit afterwards without a crowd. The day ends the way it started rather than turning into an evening out.
- Different weather to Queenstown
- Wānaka often sits clear when the Wakatipu basin is closed in. Flying from here opens a separate set of valleys, which matters when your date cannot move.
How a Wānaka day runs
A typical timeline, rebuilt each time around light, wind and where the clearest weather is sitting that morning.
Morning
Getting ready wherever you are staying around the lake. We photograph through it quietly if you would like that part covered.
Late morning
Meet at Wānaka Airport for your safety briefing, then lift off north over Lake Wānaka with your celebrant on board.
First landing
Your ceremony on a ridge, snowfield or glacial terrace chosen that morning for the light and the wind.
Second and third landings
Portraits across genuinely different country — rock, ice and tussock in the same afternoon on the full-day packages.
Late afternoon
Champagne somewhere with nobody else in it, then back over the lake into Wānaka with the evening still yours.
Where you can land near Wānaka
Four of the areas we fly to most often from Wānaka Airport. The final call is made on the day, once the pilot has read the conditions.
Coromandel Peak
The narrow tussock shoulder above Lake Wānaka that most people picture when they picture this region. Long lake views in both directions.
Rob Roy Glacier vicinity
Alpine clearings under hanging ice at the head of the Matukituki. Dramatic, cold and completely still.
Isobel Glacier region
High glacial terraces with deep seasonal snow — the most winter-feeling ceremony site we fly to from Wānaka.
Roys Peak backcountry
Backcountry landings well away from the walking track, with the same ridgeline profile and none of the queue.
What your Wānaka elopement includes
Helicopter flights and alpine landings, celebrant booking, photography and film coverage, weather monitoring with pre-selected backup sites, and the planning that holds it together — arranged by one team rather than five suppliers.
Planning the trip
Most couples fly into Queenstown and drive the Crown Range into Wānaka — approximately 60–75 minutes by road, depending on route and conditions. Arrive two days before your date if you can — it absorbs delayed flights and leaves room to move the elopement by a day if the mountains ask for it. Marriage licences are applied for online and must be arranged at least three working days before the ceremony.
Full legal detail for overseas couples is on our New Zealand elopement guide, and if you are weighing up the two towns, see eloping in Queenstown.
Wānaka elopement questions
It depends on your package, total flight time, the number of landings and the season. We quote every date individually and itemise the helicopter, celebrant, photography and film so you can see exactly what each part contributes.
A half-day Wānaka elopement usually runs three to four hours from the airfield and back. A full day runs six to eight hours with several landings and time to slow down at each one.
Flights depart from Wānaka Airport, approximately 10 km from the town centre. We confirm the exact meeting point and time the day before, once the final forecast is in.
Neither is better — they are different. Wānaka is quieter and closer to Mt Aspiring National Park's glaciers. Queenstown is easier to reach from overseas and has more to do around the elopement. Many couples fly from Wānaka and stay in Queenstown, or the reverse.
March to May gives the most settled air and the best light of the year. December to February brings the longest days and warm evenings. June to August gives genuine snow on the landing sites, with more flexibility required around weather.
Yes, within helicopter capacity and the limits of the landing site. Tell us how many people you would like with you and we will plan the aircraft configuration around it.
Most couples fly into Queenstown and drive over the Crown Range — approximately 60–75 minutes by road, depending on route and conditions. Some drive up from Christchurch or Dunedin instead, which makes a good few days either side of the elopement.
We watch the forecast in the days beforehand and hold backup landing sites and, where needed, a backup window. If the pilot calls it unsafe we move the plan rather than take the risk.
Keep planning
Go deeper on Wānaka's signature ridge, compare bases, or look at pricing.
Coromandel Peak guide
A full guide to our most-requested Wānaka ridge: what it is, seasons and how the day runs.
Queenstown elopements
Flight times, landing areas and how a Queenstown-based day actually runs.
Heli elopement packages
Compare the flight times, landings and inclusions of each package side by side.
Check your Wānaka date
Send us the date you have in mind and we will tell you what is still open and what the day could look like.