Tairoa Lodge

Tairoa Lodge is a boutique venue on Puawai Street, a couple of minutes from the centre of Hawera in South Taranaki. The 1875 Victorian villa sits in park-like grounds among towering kauri, pohutukawa and giant bamboo, a garden well enough regarded to feature in the annual Taranaki Garden Festival. Weddings run across the grounds and the purpose-built Tairoa Church Hall. Couples marry on the lawn or in the garden, gather for drinks and canapes at the hall, then sit down for the meal either in the hall itself or under a marquee on the lawn between the cottage and the hall. Group sizes run from about ten up to 150, with the hall seating around 120 for a dinner with a dance floor. Catering is left to the couple. You arrange your own food and drink and use the commercial kitchen and dedicated bar area, with set up and clean up costs built into the package. The hall doubles as a wet weather backup for a garden ceremony. Accommodation across the lodge, cottage and gatehouse sleeps up to twenty, so the wedding party and close family can stay the night. It suits couples after a relaxed garden wedding close to town.