Wedding Venue's Catering & Beverages

Tropical Resort Weddings

Why not take your wedding outdoors too or even overseas to a wonderful tropical location. Getting married on a tropical island can give a fantastic edge to your big day but there are a few things you need to consider. Click here to read the article.

Wedding Receptions 101

Let's eat, drink and be merry .

Once the solemnity of the ceremony is over it's time to party - but what happens at the reception and in what order? + click here

Beach Weddings

New Zealand's beautiful beaches can provide an amazing venue for your wedding. We have two great articles setting out things to consider when planning your beach wedding. + click here

Moving on from orange juice

Seven easy and deliciously different alcohol-free drinks to serve at your wedding +click here

Choosing the right wine

Whether you're putting together a little dinner for two or a wedding reception for 100, this book will help you find enjoyable, value-for-money, wine. Check out our review of Michael Cooper's Buyer's guide to New Zealand wines. + click here

Checklists

Questions to ask, points to consider, issues to discuss
For venues + click here
For caterers + click here

Handy recipes

Soon-to-be-wed and just-married are very social times and there's nothing nicer to serve than yummy homemade food. Check out our review of Edmonds Muffins, Breads, Biscuits & Slices. + click here

How much will your guests drink?

Bubbly:
If it's only for the toasts, you'll need one glass per guest.
There are about five glasses to the bottle.
So calculate: number of guests divided by five + a spare bottle or two = number of bottles to buy
Other drinks:
If you've got a younger crowd they'll drink more, so allow two drinks per hour per person for every hour of the function.
Older people will probably drink two drinks in the first hour and then one each hour afterwards.
One drink = a can or bottle of beer or a glass of wine (1/5 of a bottle)

How many guests will come?

Rule of thumb - to calculate how many guests will actually attend your reception, take the total number of people you have invited and multiply by .66. Multiply that number by 1.15.

Example: 300 invited x .66 = 198 x 1.15 = 228 people expected.

This formula has a 90% accuracy rate.

Wedding table centrepieces

It's not too hard to make one table look really special - but when you've got lots of tables and time or financial limitations it can be a real challenge. With this in mind we went looking for easy table centrepieces for $10 to $20 per table. + click here

Did you know ...

New Zealand's deepest wedding

Two German tourists who had been dating for three and a half years got married 100 metres underground in New Zealand in January 1994.

The couple, Bettina Erxleben and Jochen Schaff did not decide to make their wedding vows in a cave on the spur of the moment, but planned their underground wedding while they were still in Germany with the help of a friend who organises holidays in New Zealand.

Both of the pair were novice cavers, yet managed to abseil down a 60 metre rock face and wriggle through narrow mud and water filled passages, to reach the Rain Chamber of the Haggas Honking Hole cave - which is near the Waitomo cave complex - where the wedding ceremony was held. When the newlyweds were asked why they had chosen such an unusual venue for their nuptials, Ms Erxleben explained simply: "We didn't want to marry like other people do".

From The New Zealand Book of Records
Jonathan Eisen & Katherine Joyce Smith, ATI Press, ISBN 0-9583334-2-4

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