The Ultimate Guide to Getting Married at Hobbiton Movie Set | Hobbiton Movie Set Wedding Venue | Lord of the Rings Wedding Venue
Updated for 2025!
Questions about getting married at Hobbiton? We’ve got ya covered!
Where else can you get this unique architecture and Hobbit houses built into lush green hills for your wedding setting!
* For clarification, all prices mentioned in this guide is in New Zealand Dollars and are GST inclusive *
Destination weddings become increasingly popular nowadays!
Many lovers from all over the world are converging to tropical paradises like Hawaii, the Gold Coast of Australia, (okay and maybe our home base of New Zealand, too) to marry and live happily ever after.
Today though, we’re taking about a destination wedding beyond real life: getting married at Hobbiton. Because here, you can exchange rings in Middle Earth rather than tie the knot on a seashore. To get married here is to be the envy of all nerds and nerdettes!
No, this just isn't some geeky fantasy. We’re about to cover everything that you need to know about hosting a full blow Hobbit Wedding as well as eloping to Middle-earth!
How beautiful are these Hobbit houses right on the waterfront with these black swans! Could you ask for a dreamier LOTR wedding venue?
Budgeting for a Hobbiton Wedding
If you’re looking to elope to Middle-earth’s little village of Hobbiton, the venue costs come to $4000 which will cover the ceremony itself (or no ceremony if you’re just there for the photos!) as well as the full VIP tour of Hobbiton for the two of you + up to 11 guests. The guests have the option of either tagging along with you on your adventure or to just chill at the Green Dragon while you go on tour, great option to have for where older folks or those with younger children might not be up to the task of hiking around the village.
This of course is just the costs for the venue itself, a further break down of what some of the other vendors might cost below.
For a full blow wedding you’re going to be looking at a minimum of $14,800 for a guest list of 40 people, which let’s be honest… is pretty reasonably priced for a wedding venue, especially one that’s this gorgeous and “outta this world”! That said, there’s definitely bits and pieces you’ll surely want to add here and there which may bump those numbers up a little bit. Lets have a look at a break down.
Wedding Ceremony - $5,000
While it seems costly at first, it becomes much more sense when you learn that this cost helps cover the set up of the ceremony venue (whether it’s at the Garden or Yard Flat) such as the benches, signing table (barrel!), tents as well as P.A. system + a handful of hobbits scurrying around making sure every detail is perfect through the whole process.
With that, a couple’s session is also included, meaning that you’ll have a dedicated tour guide taking you along with your wedding photographer and videographer around to THE most gorgeous spots in Hobbiton as well as a few VIP only spots that most muggles will never get to step foot in!
Guest Tours - $120 per adult ($4,800 for 40)
You know that feeling of anxiety of not knowing whether guests are actually gonna enjoy being at your wedding so you starting researching and pinteresting millions of lawn games and activities for the big day? Well that’s the thing… you don’t need to worry about entertaining guests yourself! The hobbits will do it for you! With tour groups of up to 40 people, the hobbit guides will take all your guests on a once in a life time (unless they come back themselves?) journey around their village, sprinkling facts of the Middle-earth and showing them all the best that Hobbiton has to offer. Meanwhile, all you need to do is go on an adventure of your own while looking fab!
Reception/Banquet - $5,000-$10,000+
We’ll talk about food choices in a different part but for now, if you’re wanting to book out the Green Dragon, there is a minimum spend of:
$5,000 between 01 April - 30 September; and
$10,000 between 01 October - 31 March.
For The Party Marque, the minimum spend is $5,000 across all seasons.
If you’ve got a smaller party, the Millhouse is also an option which has a minimum spend of $5000 as well.
By the way, photos from this blog on Hobbiton are all from Eleanor and Jack’s lovely wedding! Click that link to see their story <3
Wedding ceremony at Hobbiton
Hobbiton as a fantasy village is quirky, fun and full of mischief and life. Hobbiton as a tourist destination is full of wonders, amazement and in many ways… the perfect nerdvana <3
Hobbiton as a wedding venue is the most worry free venue in the world. Everything you could ever need for the perfect wedding is already taken care of for you without you even needing to ask for it. The standard layout for ceremony set ups are two blocks of low (perfect height if you’re a hobbit) wooden benches forming an aisle down the middle. Hobbiton also have their own mobile audio system set up so that everyone can still hear you even if you’re a bit nervous and can’t bring yourself to raise your voice during the vows. A wooden barrel will typically be used for the signing of documents while two VERY colourful tents will typically be set up, with one providing horderves and snacks and another that will keep the drinks flowing.
As mentioned above, you’ll get to choose one of three locations to host your wedding reception, here’s a brief intro with pros and cons to each.
The Garden
Set right in the middle of Hobbiton, The Garden is the go to choice for most couples. With a meticulously maintained Hobbit hole right behind you, the vegetable fields just beyond the fence to the right, the famous party tree just to the left and a glimpse of Bilbo’s tree a little in the distance just behind you. It really is the most perfect place to tie the knot! A bonus that the ivy covered gate forms the perfect wedding arch.
Doting wedding couples may reserve the area and pick between two ceremony locations: the lush Hobbiton Gardens or at the Yard Flat, which, of course, faces the magnificent Party Tree. You can’t really go past either of these locations but the biggest difference would be that The Garden is smack in the middle of Hobbiton where as Yard Flat overlooks the whole of Hobbiton instead.
One of our overhead drone wedding photography shots so you get a good bird’s-eye view of the Hobbiton wedding venue! One of my favorite things about North Island New Zealand is the wide array of plant life here. Just look at all those different types of gorgeous trees!
Accommodation - Finding the perfect Hobbit Hole
There’s quite a ton of accommodations in the local vicinity each with their own pros and cons as well as different price points, here’s a few that we recommend having a look into.
* All distances indicated below are based on Google Map estimates with no traffic *
House with no Nails (25 Min) - If you’re looking for an unforgettable experience as well as gorgeous photos for your morning getting ready, you can’t look past this place! This beautiful wooden barn style house would honestly not look out of place if it was dropped into the middle of Hobbiton! Individual rooms cost $290-$390 OR better yet, book out the entire place for $1500 per night sleeping up to 15 hobbits, allowing you the flexibility to roam around like a true ruler!
Signal Ridge (3 Min) - Right on the doorsteps of Hobbiton, you won’t find another place that’s closer to your dream wedding venue! Simple, clean and sleeps up to 6 (3 bedrooms), it’s the perfect place for a the bride/groom squad or the elopement party to stay at. And best of all, super reasonably priced at only $600 for the whole place per night on AirBNB.
Lake Karapiro Lodge (25 Min) - This beautiful Gem sits on top of the hills looking over Lake Karapiro. On those misty mornings you’ll almost feel like you’re sitting inside the movies + the sunset there is absolutely magical too.
Eleanor and Jack’s charming Hobbiton wedding ceremony setup from across the gentle water…
They also offer two fantastic reception locations - why not host your bridal breakfast in the magnificently built Green Dragon, as seen in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Trilogies?
One of my favorite things about Hobbiton as a wedding venue is all the little touches and details: the signs in proper Middle Earth font, the building decor… oh, and maybe knowing you’re getting married in the set of several feature films?
One of the COOLEST of those “little details” the Hobbiton movie set includes for your wedding: access to a legitimate Shire map! This wedding ring photo is one of my favorites of this set : )
The namesake Green Dragon!
If you’ve read the reviews from the Hobbiton tours, you’ll actually find that they are known for how good their food is!
Inside having a wedding reception at Hobbiton—isn’t the interior so charming and cozy! I love the round Hobbit windows and the large exposed beams of wood.
This venue will cost up to $10,000 NZD minimum spend from 1 November - 31 March, and can hold up to 80 people.
You can also head to The Party Marquee (up to $5,000 NZD minimum spend), which was designed in the same manner as the one shown in The Fellowship of the Ring, to enjoy a night of dancing under the starlight. The Party Marquee can hold a big party of up to 230 guests.
Newlyweds can also explore the Millhouse, a much more intimate location located across the lake from The Green Dragon Inn. This location requires a $5,000 NZD minimum spend and can accommodate up to 48 people.
Ahhh round Hobbit doors! So cute!
If you're planning a more modest wedding but want The Shire to be part of your wedding story, you can hold a photoshoot here instead.
Up to 11 wedding party members and a photographer are included in the $4,000 price tag. This covers time on set for a two-and-a-half-hour session, but not the photographers.
One of those intimate, natural moments we love to capture during weddings: one of the bridal party children exploring the lovely Hobbit house exteriors.
Since 2002, the people of the Hobbiton Movie Set in New Zealand have been welcoming thousands of enthusiastic Lord of the Rings fans for tours of their property, which has been popularized by the LOTR and Hobbit trilogies. As one might expect, this event is life-changing in and of itself, but imagine exchanging your vows and "I dos" amid the lush beauty of the Shire.
The Hobbiton Movie Set is unlike any other, offering a one-of-a-kind and spectacular setting to catch the moments of your important day.
The setting is so great for capturing lovely wedding photographs since it’s surrounded by lush, flowing green hills with Hobbit Holes strewn across the countryside.
So what are you waiting for?! Come and join us in beautiful Matamata, New Zealand and have your dream Hobbiton wedding!!!
See More of our Hobbiton Wedding Galleries
You can visit their official website — https://www.hobbitontours.com/en/events/weddings-at-hobbiton/ — to learn more <3
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