Selecting a venue for your wedding can sometimes be the most difficult decision in the whole the wedding planning process. So, to make your decision that little bit simpler, we present one of our favourite new wedding venues, the rustically beautiful Criffel Station Woolshed.

The Criffel Station Woolshed venue is a romantically relaxed setting among Wanaka’s rolling landscape. The 2000 hectare high country deer farm is only seven kilometres from Wanaka town, but feels like you’re on another world.

The venue offers three idyllic rural venues; Criffel Station Woolshed, Stone Hut Terrace and the 100-year-old Homestead. The Station’s rural charm is the perfect backdrop for a stunningly, memorable wedding. The Woolshed boasts natural charm creating the warmth of a rural, rustic wedding in the heart of Central Otago. The history of the Woolshed has been retained using materials from around the station.

The newly landscaped Stone Hut Terraces is another location option. It’s an area exclusively fenced off - for a marquee - from the working farm that looks out to Mt Barker and across the Wanaka basin. While it is a site purpose built, it keeps in with the natural landscape but includes tended lawns, a gravelled fire pit with outdoor seating. As part of a wedding package, this venue offers a one-night stay at the shearers cottage for the bridal and groom.

When it comes to photography you’ll be spoilt for choice of backdrop. Whether it be in the woolshed among memorabilia or out near the yards. This combined with Wanaka’s renowned dry landscape in the summer or snow-capped mountains in the winter, there will always be the perfect background. Or if you love the rural surroundings but wanting more summer feelings, Lake Wanaka is close by for stunning lakeside photos.

Guests will have the options of various rural-style accommodation. The Gardener’s Cottage are for those we love an authentic experience and to be surrounded by fields where deer roam. Or for those summer wedding, guests can be treated to glamping, tipi-like-bell tents that are reminiscent of vintage safari and summer time.

The end of the wedding day will continue outside on the makeshift dance floor with the live band, or continue indoors. With its rustic country setting, Criffel Station Woolshed is a unique venue for your wedding day. Its various ceremony location and accommodation options, as well as their extra packages, it will ensure a perfect day beyond compare for any couple.