Elopement Package: CJ & Katie

hannahlindcelebran
May 18
4 min read

Two brides looking over the lake from a hill over Lake Hawea towards mountains. Central Otago NZ

Actual Inclusions:

Celebrant & Planner

Hair & Makeup x 3

Photographer for 2.5 hours (Credit for all images except the UK party to Run In The Shadows Photography Wanaka)

To book in 2026: $5,770 with just the inclusions above in Wanaka

CJ & Katie came to me with an idea, their plan evolved from that first conversation. But the things that never changed were:

CJ & Katie live in the UK but wanted to get married with good friends who live in NZ
They wanted their location to be quiet, remote (or remote feeling), beautiful, private and relaxing.
They had enough on their plates with busy jobs, busy lives, booking flights, making plans for the rest of their trip and getting themselves and their wedding dresses to NZ, they wanted to leave organising everything else with me.

Scenery from ceremony location. Looking over Lake Hawea and Hawea township, towards mountains

CJ & Katie’s first idea was a cabin in the remote Hopkins Valley near Ohau. And I’m not a party pooper, I would have been 100% in for that!!

But once I had all the information in one place:

Price per night and all added fees for the cabin for a 2 night stay for 4 people
Location of the cabin to calculate travel for me, their photographer and hair & makeup artists
Minimum spends for everybody involved

… It added up to a bit more than what CJ & Katie wanted to spend.

So I did what I always do, I priced a few different locations for them, and what we landed on was Lake Hawea just out of Wanaka.

CJ & Katie booked their accommodation & ceremony location themselves (search Lake View Earth Cottage, you’ll find it on Air BnB, but be warned, it books out WELL in advance)

They opted for a Pick N Mix ceremony with personal vows. And I worked with my favourite hair & makeup artist Charlie and wonderful local Wanaka photographer Nat to create a well-organised and relaxed morning, afternoon and ceremony.

Between CJ, Katie and their friend there as a guest they spent a total of 6 hours in Charlie’s hair & makeup chair - so the one remaining guest was given the job of getting lunch for everybody (as always recommending my favourite Wanaka eatery - The Big Fig)

The details photo. Letters, perfumes, earrings, an instamatic photo from when they first got together

When I arrived around an hour before our planned ceremony time Charlie was just finishing up the last of her work and the excitement was building. I scoped the lawn for ceremony options (if you’ve already googled Lake View Earth Cottage you’ll know I was spoiled for choice, and there was not a breath of wind that day, so all options were on the table.) Set up what I needed to set up.

And then our photographer arrived. Two and a half hours meant before the ceremony began Nat had time to photograph the details, the last minutes of everybody getting ready as well. She also brought along the wonderful Siobhan, who was able to film the ceremony for CJ & Katie (they had a very specific plan for this!)

Just before walking over to the ceremony area together CJ & Katie wanted a first look moment together. What you won’t see in the photos is me standing with CJ on the deck waiting for Katie. We’re talking about the view, their flight over, her job, lunch that day. I’m there partly to help CJ lose the anxiety but keep the excitement. And partly to be look out. When Katie comes up the stairs and is ready to walk out and tap CJ on the shoulder I disappear up to the ceremony area with their guests.

And we had a beautiful ceremony - there was laughter and there was tears. I began with a whakatauki wonderful Celebrant Guide celebrant Phillippa Thomas shared with me years ago…

Ko te mea nui ko te aroha.

The greatest thing is love.

CJ & Katie wrote beautiful vows for each other.

After the ceremony we took a few minutes and we celebrated, we soaked it in as a group. (As much as your elopement or intimate wedding package will be well organised… I believe it’s important to take even just a few minutes to remember this is a celebration, not a photo shoot.)

Nat took a few more photos on site with CJ & Katie and their friends. And then took CJ & Katie off to a beautiful spot on the other side of the lake (this is one of the reasons I believe wholeheartedly in using local photographers, local knowledge is so so SO important) bringing them back in time to get changed and head off for a celebratory dinner in Wanaka.

There’s a reason it’s taken me a while to write this blog… while CJ & Katie got married in November of 2025, almost nobody knew that was the plan. They’ve just had their UK celebration where they let the cat out of the bag, by showing that ceremony video on the big screen in place of a ceremony, so I’m finally allowed to talk about it!