Elopements & intimate weddings · Queenstown & the Southern Lakes
Private chef for weddings in Queenstown.
The part of the day where you finally sit down.
Just the two of you after your vows, or up to twenty around one table. I cook it where you’re staying, and it is the one part of the day nobody has to manage.
So much better, and more personal, than eating at a restaurant.
Jane Rawlinson · married in Queenstown
A word from the chef
There are only a few evenings in a life you return to for years.
The night you marry is the first of them. I cook for exactly those — the dinner after your vows, for the two of you, or a table of the people you love most, somewhere beautiful above the lake.
You will not sit with a list and choose. You tell me a little about yourselves, what you love and what you would rather never see, and I compose a menu around you from the best of the New Zealand season, cooked with classical French technique. Nothing on the table you did not help write.
Wedding catering, two ways
A wedding for two is not a smaller version of a wedding for twenty. They need different food, different timing, and a different evening.
Just the two of you
Dinner for two
The vows are said and the evening is yours alone. Five courses, cooked and served by me. Nobody else moving through your space, nothing to arrange. The first dinner of your marriage.
Four to twenty guests
Celebration dinner
The people who matter most, at one table. A plated dinner of three, four or five courses, carried through the night by me and my team so you never have to leave it. Choose the courses; I write the rest.
Wait staff are included in the evening. Warm bread opens every dinner. Glassware, extra tableware and styling can be hired in on request.
What’s included
One price for the evening. No service charge added at the end, and nothing you need to hire in separately unless you want to.
01
A menu written around you
Your tastes, anything nobody eats, every dietary requirement. Printed for the table so your guests can read what is coming.
02
Shopping and cooking, on site
Sourced close to the day and cooked in the kitchen where you are staying, not carried in from somewhere else.
03
Wait staff for the evening
Included in the fee rather than charged on top. Nobody leaves the table to fetch anything.
04
Every course introduced
I bring each dish out and tell you in a sentence where it came from. It is the part guests mention afterwards.
05
Linen, crockery, cutlery and equipment
White linen napkins and all the tableware, plus every piece of kitchen equipment I need to cook for you.
Hired in on requestGlassware, extra tableware and styling, if the house is short or you want something particular.
06
A full clean at the end of the night
Kitchen down, bins out, nothing of mine left behind. Nobody should have to clean up their own wedding.
Not includedWine and drinks. Bring your own — there is no corkage, and I will pour and pair whatever you choose.
I arrive three to four hours before service and need a clean kitchen, easy access and a park. Everything after that is mine to worry about.
What kind of evening are you picturing?
The food matters, but the way it is served is what decides how the night feels — whether people stay seated, or drift and talk, or wait together for each course to arrive.
Plated
The most formal of the three, and the most like a restaurant. Each course arrives at the same moment for everyone and the table eats together. Best when the dinner is the event.
Sharing menu
Dishes down the middle, everyone reaching across. Less ceremony, more noise, and people talk to each other rather than at the plate. Best when your table already knows each other.
Walk & Fork
Substantial food eaten standing, with one hand. Keeps a room moving all evening instead of anchoring it to a table. Best for a reception where you would rather nobody sat down.
Your venue, your villa, or the lodge you’ve booked
Queenstown · Arrowtown · Jack’s Point · Kelvin Heights · Wanaka · the Southern Lakes
From couples who got married here
I love how he introduced each dish and explained the elements in the meal. Every one of my guests left satisfied.
Jane Rawlinson
We are vegetarian and we worked with Fabien on some custom options. On the day, the team arrived on time, brought all their own equipment and cleaned up after themselves.
Sighle Illston
It was amazing to have such a fine dining experience in the comfort and privacy of our alpine accommodation. Our guests were so impressed.
Audrey L.
★★★★★ 5.0 from 144 Google reviews
Talk to me about your date
Dates book a long way out for weddings. Tell me yours and I will come back the same day with a menu and a price, and hold the date while you decide.