Weddings and elopements at an all-time low in popular Queenstown Lakes District
Wedding nuptials have been postponed, cancelled and overturned for the last 18 months due to Covid-19 restrictions – leaving the wedding industry feeling the pinch.
Weddings and elopements in New Zealand hit an all-time low in 2020 and have not picked up since.
The number of non-Kiwis getting married in New Zealand is not available, but the number of Kiwis getting married or entering civil unions dropped 20 per cent between 2018 and 2020 – from 20,949 to 16,779.
Marriage numbers in New Zealand have been in decline since the 1960s, but Covid-19 has stopped us from being a wedding and elopement destination for overseas couples too.
Wedding planners in the Queenstown Lakes District are getting only 10 to 25 per cent of their usual business at this time of year. Continue reading here.
Some Choice News!
DOC is rolling out a new tool to help figure out what to tackle first when it comes to protecting our threatened species and the things putting them at risk.
Why does this matter? As Nikki Macdonald from The Post points out, we’re a country with around 4,400 threatened species. With limited time and funding, conservation has always meant making tough calls about what gets attention first.
For the first time, DOC has put real numbers around what it would take to do everything needed to properly safeguard our unique natural environment. The new BioInvest tool shows the scale of the challenge: 310,177 actions across 28,007 sites.
Now that we can see the full picture, it brings the big question into focus: how much do we, as Kiwis, truly value protecting nature — and what are we prepared to invest to make it happen?
We hope this brings a smile!
Poll: If we want to reduce speeding, what do you think actually changes driver behaviour? 🛻🚨🚓
In the Post's article on speeding penalties, the question is asked whether speeding fines are truly about road safety, or are they just a way to boost revenue for the Crown?
What do you think? Should speeding motorists receive speeding fines or demerit points?
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37.2% The sting of a fine (Money talks!)
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62.8% The threat of demerit points (Nobody wants to lose their license!)
Share your favourite main crop potato recipe and win a copy of our mag!
Love potatoes? We will give away free copies of the May 2026 issue to readers whose potato recipes are used in our magazine. To be in the running, make sure you email your family's favourite way to enjoy potatoes: mailbox@nzgardener.co.nz, by March 1, 2026.
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