In recent times, the top 4 reasons why Elopements get cancelled have been:
- The guest list got too big
- Covid Lockdowns 2020-2022
- Floods in the North Island destroyed our clients’ homes
- Financial trouble with inflation & high interest rates
A few of these things are unfortunately beyond anyone’s control.
Of course, there were COVID lockdowns that had us all on our toes to get things done while we could.
The floods in the North Island of New Zealand devastated some of our clients in 2022/2023, with their homes being unfortunately ruined.
New home owners in New Zealand who purchased during the COVID real estate boom with low interest rates, were hit with much higher interest rates when it came time to re-fix their rate. This went up from approx 2% in 2021 to over 7% in 2023 for a 1 year term, meaning that on a 1 million dollar mortgage the repayments would have increased by about $36,000 per year. While this doesn’t affect some couples, we’ve seen many couples affected by this also.
However, the main thing you can control right now is the guest list.
Why it is important to keep the guest numbers low
If you are “Eloping” but having many guests, are you really eloping?
This one is a real toughie, because a wedding is a celebration, and what’s a celebration without friends and family?
Here’s the reason why a big guest list for a Destination Wedding can cause an eventual cancellation: Things spiralling out of control.
Imagine this:
Your mum, dad, brother, sister, bestie and your partner’s side are initially invited. They tell their peers about this exciting heli-wedding you are having.
Then your other non-invited friends hear about it and want to be a part of the day – they might even offer to pay for their own flights and accommodation just for the experience.
The news gets to your grand parents who now (might) have mobility issues. They insist on being a part of the big day, but it’s too hard for them to travel all the way to Queenstown.
You still want to have an amazing heli wedding experience in Queenstown, but your parents argue that your grand parents must be a part of the day, and suggest to have a wedding back home instead.
You come under a lot of peer pressure from friends and family – eventually succumbing to it and ending up cancelling the booking, forfeiting the non-refundable deposit.
If you don’t want to be this couple, you really need to keep things under control. You could:
- Have no guests
- Be extremely strict with the guest list – making the guest list no more than 7 (for a wedding with 2 helis for example)
- Invite people to a “Wedding Party” back home instead, eg: At a privately booked restaurant to announce the marriage, so the extra guests can still feel as a part of the wedding day.