15th February 2021 (By Tamsin)
This is a blog about my wedding! Ben and I have been together nearly 7 years, and we decided to do an elopement in our hometown of Queenstown. Otherwise we would just keep putting it off!
With both our families in lockdown in England and Australia, we decided we would have the ceremony live streamed, to have them still feel like part of the day. But with this option we had to think about timings that wouldn’t be too late for England, or too early for Australia, we decided to have an early wedding with a 10am ceremony. With so many amazing locations to get married in Queenstown, is was so hard to pick which one to have the ceremony at, and we didn’t decide until pretty much the day before, and it was perfect. We chose the far side of the Kelvin Heights, on the rocky beach (not great for heels) by the golf course.
We had a beautiful intimate ceremony with our friend Charlotte as our celebrant, Dan also our friend as our photographer, and my sister and her husband. Plus about 30 people watching via Facetime Live across the world.
After the ceremony we went to the other-side of Kelvin Heights. Where a picnic was set up and we could get some photos in the woods area, and also by the beach on that side. Even though the locations are very close together, the look and vibe of the places are different. Rugged and wild on one side, where we had the ceremony. And more in amongst the town on the other.
After lunch we went off for a Heli-shoot, where we landed on The Ledge, on Cecil Peak. It’s was Ben’s first time in a helicopter and it was a beautiful flight. Being so high and seeing the views of Queenstown below was stunning, it was definitely a highlight. The landscape up there is beautiful, with tall ledges, and rocky backdrops(why it’s called the ledge!), the views really are just breathtaking.
Then it was back to the Hilton to for some more photos and to relax before dinner. We kept all the locations pretty close together so we didn’t have to spend to much time travelling around, and also risking traffic for the early morning ceremony on a Monday morning.
ELOPEMENT TEAM & LOCATIONS
Ceremony – Kelvin Heights
Celebrant – Charlotte Winkel – Your Big Day
Accommodation – Hilton
Flowers – The Flower Room
Helicopter – Heliworks
Helicopter landing location – Cecil Peak – The Ledge