Wedding (UK) and Honeymoon (New Zealand) help needed please!

[crokky]

For my brother and SIL...who want to get married soonish but aren't sure where in the maze to start!

What time of year is the main "season" (?) in New Zealand - they want to go on honeymoon for 3 weeks but don't know when stuff is open/the best time is to go...any advice greatly appreciated (they want to travel round NZ)

Wedding dress question (I didn't have a dress as I am a tomboy so I couldn't help!) - do you go to a bridal shop and choose one, take measurements etc and then they get one made for you? Can she buy off the shelf anywhere? - she is 5ft9 so not so straightforward as going to debenhams etc. How long does it take to get a dress - she is worried that it takes months and months...can they do them quicker?

The wedding itself is straightforward - going to reg office and they already have rings. Then just a small family meal in a restaurant nearby so easy to organise.

Thanks for any help!

bump!

anyone...

She could probably try buying a dress off the rail, when is she wanting to get married, most shops offer a fast track option where you pay extra. I just did this for my bridesmaid dressed, ordered in March, where due to arrive 28th June for wedding at beginning of July I paid £50 to get them a month earlier!

We got married and went to NZ on honeymoon in October.

Basically, as NZ is in the southern hemisphere, January in NZ is like July in the UK, and vice versa.

So going in October meant that we left falling leaves on the ground in the UK and arrived on a lovely Spring day in NZ!

This worked for us as we didn't want to get married in the 'main season' in the UK, but wanted it to be reasonably warm. As far as I remember it was light clothes, shorts some days but a sweater in the evenings. Everything was 'open' in NZ but again, not full-on main season which we liked (ie very little pre-booking or queues).

I don't think there is a closed season for NZ - it's not like a resort on a Greek island - so I think what matters is if your brother and SIL have strong views on likely weather either for the wedding or honeymoon.

Hope this helps.

wanted it to be reasonably warm in NZ I mean!

I'm tall too and tbh the best bet is to hit the bridal shops and try on every single one. they'll all pretty long so no worry on length and they'll play around with length of bodice etc - but they'll charge extra for the alterations.

both my wedding dress and adult bridesmaid dress were two piece - bodice and long skirt as the dresses really weren't long enough in the body.

It is highly unlikely she'll get what she wants on the high street but might be worth a try.

The bridal shops talk you through everything. They do like at least 6mths -9mths for any order but I ordered mine in september and it was ready for wedding in november.

oh, if they get married the last weekend in november then most hotels will already be decorated for christmas so saves money on decoration! in our case, we were able to get the hotel to bring forward putting their decorations up by 3days so they were there for our day.

my sister was in NZ in january and had a fab time and a lovely tan.

Thank you very much everyone, want to go to NZ myself now

Am truly shocked about the dress stuff...I thought the turnaround would be about 6 weeks but you might be able to pay a bit extra to get it done in a week [deluded] . I got married in clothes I already had because I am not into dresses at all!