Queenstown Heli-Weddings & Elopement Packages - Nomad Weddings — Attraction in South Island

We completely lucked out when we asked James and his team at Nomad Weddings to arrange one of their Elopement Package weddings for us. We were provided with the perfect day in terms of what we wanted, what James explained he could provide and what was finally delivered on top of Cecil Peak, Queenstown.

Our package included bridal hair and makeup, transfers to and from our hotel to Queenstown Airport, helicopter to and from Cecil Peak, photography and videography of the whole process. We then had further photos and video at two other sites before finally being taken back to the hotel. As well as the above, Nomad also made great recommendations for bridal flowers, hotel accommodation, restaurants etc during the time we were in Queenstown.

Before the day James' communication with us from enquiry, through planning and then agreement on our package was awesome. We were always aware of what was happening, what needed paying for and when, any alterations that were necessitated and how the wedding day was going to go.

On the day itself, James and Josh were our Nomad team. They obviously really enjoy what they do and wanted to make sure we had the day we wanted to have. It did feel like we were able to relax and have fun whilst they witnessed and recorded us doing so. On top of the mountain where the ceremony took place, they completed the job of recording our day without us ever feeling they were in the way. They seemed to enjoy our day with us, which was brilliant. Further photos and video after the mountain at two selected spots which they thought (and were) going to be great at that moment. They even got their shoes and socks off and rolled their trousers up, to get in the water, because some unplanned but cool photos were to be had by the lake.

Before we said goodbye, we asked if it was possible to have a photo or two by the end of our trip, to show friends and family before the 'official' photo and video pack in a few weeks' time. At 2.08am the next morning James emailed through a selection of preview photos for us! Nomad Weddings... Legends!

We had a fantastic wedding day experience. It could not have happened without James and Nomad. Absolutely recommended; they know their stuff, they know Queenstown and they know how to make Queenstown your perfect wedding venue.

Best wishes and grateful thanks from Ian and Vivienne Austin....

Good Photos, Poor Video Quality, and poor Communication

Photos: We love his style and we love the photos that we got from the team. Most of them look great and we are very happy with it

Video Content: We are not happy with the video, the sound quality was really poor. The microphone was only clear for the Bride but not clear for the other ones so it’s really not great when you hear it together, he also never responded to this when it was raised. The sequence of the shots in the video are all over the place. We gave him a detailed feedback to get the team to fix but they didn't fix it according to our feedback for more than 2 months and we had to follow up multiple times before hearing back from them and each time they would only get back on 1-2 points. Considering the price we paid, we expected more. It's been a very disappointing process.

Event Planning: There are so many things that they have missed and that we have to raise to them ourselves. We have to manage a lot of things ourselves which we prob won't have to if we went with other places. They also forgot the flower petals during our shoot even though it's something we specifically paid for and spoke about a lot beforehand that it was one that we wanted to do very well as we loved it. They did not even check or realise that it was missing until my wife asked about it. We ended up having to pull it from the wedding bouquet when we were up there so that we can have the flower shots. Overall quite disappointing.

Communication: Very poor, we need to follow up multiple times to get an answer on anything. Very disappointing. On the day things could have also been planned so much better if things were communicated and planned with us. Instead we were just told what to do and to rush because time management was also not great nor communicated properly.

We paid a lot of money for the wedding and we don't expect everything to be perfect but we also didn’t expect them to ignore us for a long time before getting back to us on feedback on the video. It's our special day and we want to have the video to cherish the day, but the experience wasn’t that good. We feel like the day and our ceremony was so special and it was one to cherish but we don’t have a nice video to show for how...

Choosing to book with James was the best decision we have made.

We originally met for a coffee first and instantly James made us feel welcome and comfortable. It was like a chat with an old friend, and he was genuinely interested in making our day special and gave us tips and advice.

James wasn’t pushy at all and what was pleasantly surprising was that despite being in a competitive market and during covid he advised us to take our time and even meet with other photographers before we made our decision. This made us feel like we were dealing with an honest and generally a good person who wants the best for you. Pretty much on the next day we got back to James to confirm our booking with him.

It was clear and consistent communication before our wedding day which we really appreciated, and it made us feel relaxed that James was taking care of it and looking after us. The organizational process from him and his team is on the highest level. He came up with plan A, B & Z in case our helicopter trip would be cancelled and what would be the best in terms of timing to catch the best light for photos etc. You can see how they have an individual approach for every couple.

The wedding day itself could not have gone smoother. The only concern we had as a couple is that we consider ourselves as camera shy people and have never experienced photo shoots before, so we were worried if it would be an awkward experience for us, especially in the moment when you talk about your feelings in front of other people. All our worries were for nothing; we never expected for us to feel so comfortable in front of the camera, the whole process was pure joy and don’t think we have ever laughed so much before! – all of this down to James and his team making this experience so easy, calming and natural.

Besides James and his team taking great care of us on the day, the photos and videos they captured are incredible - you can tell they take the time to do it right. We are grateful that we will always have these memories. We would not change a thing and thank you so much to James and his team for making our experience so special.

Thank...