Funeral venue hire and catering costs in NZ
Financial advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). QuoteHub is a trading name.
Chapel hire for a funeral in New Zealand ranges from $200 to $500 and catering from $15 to $25 a head on FDANZ's indicative ranges, as at July 2025 (FDANZ: funeral costs). One Auckland director's May 2026 list shows its chapel at $662, lounge hire or a service fee at another venue of $512 to $795, and menus of $15 to $19.45 a head. These are costs on top of the funeral director's professional fee.
Venue hire is the fee to use a chapel, hall, lounge or other space for the service or the gathering after it. Catering is the food and drink for that gathering, usually priced per head. Printed service sheets and live-streaming are the other two lines families commonly add. FDANZ's ranges are indicative and vary by funeral director, and the Dils figures are one firm's prices, not an average. For FDANZ's own full-funeral scenario (50 attendees at a funeral home, with catering), the average is $11,700 for a cremation funeral and $14,300 for a burial, so the pieces on this page are real but smaller than the director's professional fee, which FDANZ puts at $3,000 to $6,500.
What the published figures say
| Item | FDANZ indicative range (as at July 2025) | Dils list (as at May 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Chapel hire | $200 to $500 | $662 (North Harbour Chapel) |
| Lounge hire, or service fee at another venue | Not listed | $512 to $795 |
| Food delivery to one venue (church or residence) | Not listed | $310 |
| Catering per head | $15 to $25 | $15, $17.25 or $19.45 by menu |
| Extra platters (fruit, cheese, sushi, antipasto) | Not listed | $100 to $130 each |
| Service sheets | $2 to $3 per sheet | $4.40 per copy, plus $370 design and set-up |
| Live-streaming or webcast | $200 to $500 | $350 (North Harbour Chapel) |
| Video recording of the service | Not listed | $920 |
| Slideshow or pictorial tribute | $300 to $500 | $425 |
| Organist, piper or bugler | Not listed | $250 |
Sources: FDANZ and Dils. All prices include GST. Dils says its prices "may alter at anytime without notice". We have no sourced price for council or community hall hire, marae use, or private function rooms, because hirers set their own and we did not find a published national figure.
A worked example by guest numbers
The example uses FDANZ's per-head range and shows what the number of guests does to catering alone. It is arithmetic from the published range, not a quote.
| Guests | Catering at $15 a head | Catering at $25 a head |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | $450 | $750 |
| 50 | $750 | $1,250 |
| 80 | $1,200 | $2,000 |
For 50 guests, adding FDANZ's chapel range ($200 to $500) and service sheets (50 at $2 to $3, so $100 to $150) gives $1,050 to $1,900 for these three lines. On the Dils list the same three lines come to $2,002 to $2,224.50: its chapel at $662, 50 meals at $15 to $19.45, and 50 service sheets at $4.40 plus the $370 design fee. The gap comes mostly from the chapel line and the design fee, and it does not show that one firm is dearer; the two lists price different things.
Is it on the funeral director's account?
Some directors list venue, catering and printing on their own price list, as Dils does, so these lines can arrive on the director's account. FDANZ says costs paid to others are usually paid by the director and passed on, and that a deposit may be asked for. Whether a given line comes through the director or is booked directly by the family is something to ask when you get the itemised quote; see funeral director price lists.
Ways to scale the cost
- Choose the venue for the number of guests. Food scales with the number of guests, while a chapel or lounge appears as a single figure on the lists we read.
- Check what the chapel includes. Streaming and recording are priced separately on the Dils list.
- Decide on printed service sheets. FDANZ's range is $2 to $3 a sheet, and Dils prices design and each copy separately, so ask what is included.
- Separate the service from the gathering. A direct cremation with a later memorial moves the venue and catering decision to a date of the family's choosing; see direct cremation costs.
- Consider the celebrant fee as its own line. FDANZ's range is $300 to $900, and Dils lists $590 to $705; see celebrant costs.
- Tangihanga. Many tangihanga are held on a marae, in a hall or at home, and are largely organised by the local marae, according to FDANZ. We found no sourced marae cost. Kai for a tangihanga is a named Funeral Grant expense; see tangihanga costs.
Help with venue and food costs
Work and Income's Funeral Grant lists venue hire and food and catering, including kai for a tangihanga, among reasonable expenses, alongside flowers, celebrant fees and a slideshow or photo tribute. Alcohol is generally not considered reasonable, though it may be treated as reasonable case by case (Work and Income: Funeral Grant; Work and Income: essential funeral expenses). The maximum is $2,697.43, subject to income and asset tests, and other help, including prepaid funeral cover, can affect eligibility. See the Funeral Grant guide and the wider funeral cost guide.
Planning ahead with funeral insurance
For 50 guests, the chapel, food and service sheets came to $1,050 to $1,900 on the FDANZ ranges above. Momentum Life's Funeral Insurance, issued by Momentum Life Limited, accepts New Zealanders aged 40 to 75 and pays a fixed benefit of $3,000 to $30,000 towards costs. Acceptance is guaranteed, with no health questions, but for the first 24 months it pays only for accidental death (within 90 days of the accident); for any other death in that window nothing is paid and the premiums are refunded. Total premiums can end up larger than the benefit, and the benefit may not cover the whole funeral. Momentum Life's A.M. Best rating is B (Fair), explained on its financial strength page. Other products are compared in the funeral insurance hub, and the plan is described on our Funeral Cover page. The buttons on this page open Momentum Life's online application. QuoteHub is a Momentum Life partner and may be paid a commission (how we are paid). Advice is provided by Craig Smith Business Services Limited, trading as Smiths Insurance & KiwiSaver, a licensed Financial Advice Provider (FSP712931). Back to funeral costs.
Adviser's view
Venue and catering are the part of a funeral a family can most easily scale up or down. FDANZ's ranges put chapel hire at $200 to $500 and catering at $15 to $25 a head; the number of guests drives the total more than the venue does. We found no sourced national price for community hall hire.
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Cite this page QuoteHub NZ (2026). Funeral Venue Hire and Catering Cost NZ. www.quotehub.co.nz/funeral-costs/funeral-venue-and-catering-cost-nz. Updated 2026-10-20.
References
- FDANZ: Funeral costs and financial support
- FDANZ: 2026 New Zealand Funeral Industry Trends Report (PDF)
- Dils: Standard price list as at May 2026 (PDF)
- Work and Income: Funeral Grant
- Work and Income: Essential funeral expenses (Manual for Processing Applications)
- Momentum Life: Financial Strength
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