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Call me on 0800 777 387

 INTERNATIONAL PHONE +64 3 4158 583

CLICK HERE TO CALL 0800 777 387

 INTERNATIONAL PHONE +64 3 4158 583

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Only brides and grooms who get married at RiverRidge Retreat and who contacted RiverRidge weddings after 01-01-2014.

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WEDDING
PLANNING

Plan dream wedding

Adele Dawkins, New Zealand's most trusted wedding planner.

Plan Dream Wedding

WEDDING
VENUE

Riverridge Retreat wedding venue small photo

Get married at our venue in Nature's Paradise, RiverRidge Retreat.

See the Venue

ABOUT
US

Adele Dawkins small photo

Adele from RiverRidge Weddings is passionate about planning dream weddings.

Meet RiverRidge Weddings

Dream Otago wedding packages for 2019

adele dawkins email

"Brand NEW 'Dream wedding packages' available. Contact Adele now by filling out the contact form, to view the best option for you. Now only 13 7 available." - Adele

Why Choose RiverRidge Weddings? Watch the Video!

RiverRidge Weddings are proud to be leading the Weddings Venue Industry on both exceptional Quality and outstanding Value for Money. In addition to this, take a look at the other reasons why RiverRidge Weddings are NZ’s premier provider of Dream Weddings

Our Unique X Factor Points

7 reasons why you should get married with RiverRidge Weddings at the RiverRidge Retreat Venue

  1. An amazing Personalised Wedding Package Deal! - Have your dream wedding the exact way you have always dreamed it to be - to yours and your fiancée’s wants! After chatting with you, we will present you with a 100% individualised ‘dream wedding’ package, that matches your precise wants.
  2. Yours and Your Guests Ultra Memorable Wedding Story! You have the option of the celebration being about the two of you for three whole days (why invest so many resources for it to be all finished after just a few hours?) AND your guests are treated to a pristine venue, for three days, where they receive exceptional value - imagine what they will think!
    (n.b: There are one, two and three day options plus Elopement options)
  3. Easy, Simple and Fun For You! After all, it’s your celebration, so the build up also needs to be easy, fun and stress free. The most trusted professionals have all come together to take the pressure off your shoulders. Your guarantee is our reputation!
  4. All In One Venue! Your dream wedding Ceremony, Reception, Accommodation (sleep up to 80) and activities are all at the one location. This enables the day to flow seamlessly for you and your guests. Have everything organised: catering, photos, make up, decorations, invitations, hair - if you like.
  5. Beautiful! 15 acres of pristine grounds; numerous magical ceremony sites; a new elegant Reception centre; all in the heart of the stunning Catlin’s. Have your dream wedding at one of NZ's only unspoiled and untouched areas remaining.
  6. Flexible payment options..
  7. Have your very own RiverRidge Dream wedding formula, individualised to you. RiverRidge weddings can guarantee you will be 110% (+) ‘overjoyed’ with your wedding, and with the EASY process involved in the time leading up to your Special day(s). Take a look at the 9 steps that together (you and the RiverRidge team) will pass through to achieve your ultimate RESULT – Your DREAM WEDDING! RiverRidge Dream wedding formula RiverRidge Dream wedding formula.
CLICK ON THE SMALL ICONS BELOW TO SEE MORE!
RiverRidge Retreat wedding venue Bride testimonial wedding ceremony in Catlins Catlins wedding waterfall wedding forest Catlins beach wedding photo Wedding photo on a Otago beach Bride and groom

Terms & Conditions

Welcome to RiverRidge Retreat Online Booking and Paying System

Important Message - Just a quick couple of notes before you get started:

  1. Prior to booking and paying for accommodation, PLEASE ensure you have received the leaflet (in your invite) that clearly states you can stay onsite at RiverRidge Retreat. - The Retreat can sleep 80 people maximum, so some wedding guests stay onsite and some need to book offsite accommodation. The Bride and Groom allocate who is staying onsite, so its paramount if you haven't received leaflet re staying onsite then you don't pay for accommodation thank you.
  2. If you are staying offsite you are still more than welcome to book and pay for meals here. 🙂

Thank you

If you are purchasing an accommodation package, please note the accommodation fee is only a "subsidy" / flat fee determined by the bride and groom for all their guests no matter which room they allocate you. This is to help the bride and groom, and we are providing an online tool to collect this subsidy - this is in no way a regular accommodation fee. Therefore any queries or concerns re this should be discussed with the bride and groom directly.

ALL accommodation onsite is allocated by the bride and groom as they know their guests best, so all allocations and accommodation arrangements are done by the bride and groom as part of their package.

Therefore any queries or concerns re this should be discussed with the bride and groom directly.

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Wedding planning

Premier New Zealand Wedding Venue with RiverRidge Weddings

RiverRidge Weddings are held at RiverRidge Retreat, a venue in the stunning Catlins located in the South Island of New Zealand.

We are a true destination wedding venue with a wide range of accommodation at the venue and many beautiful locations nearby including the waterfalls, long sandy beaches, rainforests and many other natural wonders.

We are the Southern Most Retreat in the World!

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Our venue is ideal for overseas couples with their friends and family wanting to have a very special wedding in New Zealand.

Gary and Adele Dawkins, who bought the Retreat after getting married here, will take care of your every need to help you have the wedding of your dreams.

Adele and Gary's weddingAdele and Gary's wedding at the Retreat

Adele is also a wedding planner who has planned over a 100 successful weddings and can help you plan your wedding, with you, while you are overseas in any country from America to the UK, so that everything is taken care off when you have your wedding at RiverRidge Retreat here in New Zealand.

Why is the Catlins Region your Best Choice?

The Catlins is located in South Otago in the southern part of the South Island of New Zealand. It is well known for its stunning natural beauty including majestic coastal cliffs, waterfalls, coves, sandy bays, white beaches, rainforests and rivers.

This makes the Catlins an ideal place for your destination wedding as you can include many of these natural wonders in your weddings photos and make a vacation of your wedding if you so wish.

The Catlins is really a hidden gem full of unspoilt nature.

What activities can you enjoy here?

The activities include, at the Southern Most Retreat In The World;

  1. Scenic Water Falls Tour
  2. The Rare Yellow Eyed Penguin and Sea Lion Tour
  3. Catlins Tour by Horse Back
  4. Beautiful Catlins Rainforest Kayaking Tour
  5. The Majestic Cathedral Caves Tour
  6. Scenic Catlins Mountain Bike Tour
  7. Beautician treatments and therapeutic massages

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CALL ME ON +64 3 4158 583

OR EMAIL ME AT This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

RiverRidge Weddings Photo Gallery!

Simply click on the buttons to filter and the small photos to view.

What Do Brides Say About Us?

Want to Know More?

You can find more about our wedding venue, Adele's planning service and more testimonials.

 

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SAME SEX DESTINATION WEDDING VENUE

RiverRidge Retreat – South Island, New Zealand

-NZ’s Premier Destination Wedding Venue-

 RIVERRIDGE RETREAT IS the Southern Most Retreat in the World!

The RiverRidge Retreat is simply a slice of paradise.Same sex wedding couple

Located on beautifully groomed grounds beside the Catlins River, the retreat resonates peace and tranquillity – no distractions from busy city life – nestled amongst nature's paradise.

The Catlins is an area of great contrasts and natural beauty – one of ‘Real’ New Zealand's last 'best kept secrets'.

The Catlins is a magnificent mix of;

  • Coastal cliffs and headlands
  • Long white beaches
  • Coves and sandy bays
  • Waterfalls
  • River valleys
  • Beautiful rain forests
  • Hidden lakes

The retreat itself is situated beneath stunning native bush ridges and is surrounded by the beautiful Catlins River.

It is a location that brings you back to nature.

Retreat montage

The pure and rich fresh air, native bush, and green pastures, enables you to feel at one with nature.

Wedding venue for same sex couples

Same Sex Weddings are extremely popular at NZ’s Premier Destination Wedding Venue because:

  1. Have your most special day last for three days, with all your loved ones right here with you the entire time! This is one of the most important and special times of your lives – you have invested so much time, energy and finances into having your dream wedding – so make sure it is not over quickly!
    The RiverRidge Retreat venue has a capacity of 140 people in the Function Centre and can sleep up to 80 people. Nearby accommodation can cater for more
  2. It is an All in One Venue : Ceremony, Reception, Accommodation and Activities all onsite
  3. You and your loved ones have exclusive use of the entire venue (all accommodation units, the large and modern fully equipped reception centre and 15 acres of pristine grounds)
  4. With over 200 destination weddings in 5 years, the highly skilled RiverRidge weddings staff have un-paralled experience in ensuring your wedding runs seamlessly
  5. The planning and coordinating process is easy and fun, ensuring you experience your dream wedding
  6. Numerous on site ceremony options for you to choose from
  7. Same sex wedding packages that can be personally customised to suit your exact theme, style, budget and wants
  8. A reputation of being South Islands best ‘value for money’ venue
  9. Pick ups and drop offs to airport made easy
  10. A 100% no risk guarantee (contact Adele and Gary now to find out what this is)!
CLICK ON THE SMALL PHOTOS BELOW TO SEE MORE!
RiverRidge Retreat wedding venue RiverRidge Retreat same sex wedding venue Another view of the venue Purakaunui Falls Catlins beach Nugget Point The Catlins McLean Falls Cathedral Caves

 

Couple same sex getting married 

RiverRidge Weddings Photo Gallery!

Simply click on the buttons to filter and the small photos to view.

What Do Brides Say About Us?

 Two gentlemen getting married

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CLICK HERE TO CALL ME ON 0800 777 387

 INTERNATIONAL PHONE +64 3 4158 583

Enquiry Form

If you have problems using the form below, please email us at adeleandgary@riverridgeretreat.co.nz

Use This Form and We'll Get Back to You ASAP!

 

We absolutely loved our wedding down there, it was perfect.

It really felt like it was about us. We had the whole venue to ourselves for the whole weekend.

The guests are still talking about what an amazing day it was!

Renae from Otago

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Our Venue & Catlins

Click the icon below to watch a video showing our venue and some of the stunning Catlins beauty spots.

RiverRidge Retreat wedding venue

Testimonials

Why does RiverRidge Weddings stand out from the rest?

One of the reasons is we have many brides who are happy to tell the world about their fantastic wedding experiences, from the planning with Adele all the way through to their dream wedding at our RiverRidge Retreat venue in Nature's Paradise.

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You can click on one of the thank you letter photos below to see the full size version.

Mel-and-Ben We can not thank you and Gary enough for your hospitality and letting us have our 2nd big day down there!

Everyone could not stop saying how beautiful it is there and specially my mother in law, auntie and Ben were so so impressed and amazed.

Mel and Ben, NZ

I found RiverRidge Retreat to be the ideal venue for Tony and my wedding.

It enabled us to have all of our family and friends, accommodated on site.

We ended up having 60 of our closest stay with us at the retreat for three days – such a very special time.

A big thanks to Adele and Gary for their amazing help to make our dream wedding day.

Maria Jones, Dunedin, NZ

Hi Adele and Gary. Thanks for helping to make our wedding so amazing.

We decided to write this card to let you know all the things you did that helped make our wedding day and weekend so special.

This is what we came up with…

- You always had all the answers to our many thousand questions in the months leading up and you were so willing to help. This made the planning easy.

- You let us party with our loved ones all night long (lots of Sunday morning headaches, LOL’s).

- We could have all our family and close friends stay on site with us for the weekend.

- The weekly payment installments which we started 11 months ago made it all possible.

- The guys had a blast with the clay target shooting and the girls loved the beauty treatments (just a pity we didn’t have time to try some of your other many activity options).

- Your chef Mark was happy to customise the food to suit. Mark also called us on three separate occasions to discuss all our food needs.

- Shelley Povey was an outstanding photographer. We must send you some of our photos.

- Your one stop shop meant it was so easy for us get everything we needed, e.g: decorations.

Anyway guys, there are lots more we could waffle on about – can’t thank you enough!

Hope you guys enjoy this wee ‘thank you' gift.

Katie and Tom Bennett, Christchurch, NZ

See More Testimonials

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