It comes after results put Mayor Andy Foster just 62 votes ahead of Justin Lester to claim the city's top job.
Lester was at the Wellington District Court this afternoon to formally apply for the recount.
Outside of court, he said they had asked for a manual recount of all the votes.
It would now be up to a judge to decide but there had been no indication of a timeframe, Lester said.
Foster took to Facebook earlier this week over the matter, claiming 62 votes in recount terms was a "landslide".
"A judge has to be convinced that it is worth the expenditure and that depends on there being any real chance of a materially different result. Having talked with the returning officer and several other people, they are confident of the result and that it won't change materially."
Massey University local government commentator Andy Asquith said a recount was a rare occurrence, but noted 62 votes was a small percentage.
"Clearly in the case of Wellington where we're talking many many votes being cast, 62 votes is not that many in the grand scheme of things."
But there have been even closer mayoral races in the country's recent history.
In 2016 Andrew King was elected as Hamilton's new mayor by a margin of just nine, squeezing past Paula Southgate for the top job.
After a recount the margin was narrowed to only six votes.
