- Across Aotearoa, wedding bells are ringing. - Kua tuhono nga whakapapa! - I do. - I feel very lucky to be a celebrant. - And making them official... - So fancy. - ...are our Maori celebrants. - (ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC CONTINUES) - Which one is it? - Ah, I nearly gave him a ring around the ears. - (ALL CHEER) - Raise your glasses for the newlywed couple! - From the vows to the rings,... - You may now kiss your bride. - ...they help couples say 'I do'. This is Aroha Nui. Captions by Faith Hamblyn. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2022. Devonport, Tamaki Makaurau, is home to this week's wedding celebrant, Ngahiwi Walker. - It was initially never in my plans to be a marriage celebrant, but my wife was a bit tired of people who she didn't know marrying her family, so she told me I was going to be a marriage celebrant, and I said, 'A what?' And she said, 'A marriage celebrant.' And I said, 'I don't wanna be a marriage celebrant.' So she already had the paperwork, and she made me sign it, so... Aio ki te aorangi, pono ki te aorangi, koa ki te aorangi, aroha ki te aorangi. - This week, it's a whanau affair. - My nephew is Mangarangi, and he's marrying his darling Rosalina Rehana. Our beautiful couple will be going last, yep, so I think if we've got enough numbers on each side, we're just gonna come one tane, one wahine come through, holding hands or linking elbows together. - And Mangarangi is very excited to be getting married, especially by his uncle, who they affectionately call Uncle Hoki. - I'm proud to be a nephew of him, Ngati Porou ` Ngahiwi Walker. Aue. - Make sure that our marena wahine is ready to go tomorrow, and make sure Mangarangi is ka pai for tomorrow as well. Sweet as? - Ka pai. - So if Rosalina gets angry at us, kei te pai tera. You just do what she asks. You just suck it up, OK? - Uncle Hoki's the man. - When Ngahiwi isn't marrying his whanau off, he's running the ship at the naval marae, Te Taua Moana. - I initially entered the Royal NZ Navy as a young gunnery rating. Now I'm a Chief Petty Officer Seaman Combat Specialist in the Royal New Zealand Navy... - Kia ora, cuz. Good morning. - Kia ora, e hoa. - Come and grab a seat. .../Marriage celebrant. I think we all get our stuff sorted first of all, you know, send it out Facebook, send it out to our Navy email, to all our whanau. So, when I run my weddings, they have a real naval theme to them. Obviously, I'm in Navy uniform, so I'm representing the Navy; I'm representing everybody in the Navy as well, so I like to incorporate all of that type of stuff into my weddings as well. - Ngahiwi's own love story started in the early '90s, when he met his own darling, Teresa. Today Ngahiwi gets to catch up with nephew Mangarangi and bride-to-be Rosalina, to go over their wedding plans. - Awesome. It's so beautiful to have you here, my nephew. Awesome. Really, really looking forward to this kaupapa that's coming for us. You were our first choice, Uncle, - yeah. Honoured to have you, yeah. - (CHUCKLES) - Only choice. - Yeah, only choice, yeah. - (CHUCKLES) - Mangarangi and Rosalina met in Kaitaia, while working together with rangatahi. - We got to learn a lot about each other and built a really good friendship and trust. I think we had to have a lot of trust in each other, cos it was only us two working in that space. So, yeah, I was able to see, you know, how vulnerable he was, and, I think, vice versa. But, yeah, we're just... yeah, we were really just really good friends, eh? - Yeah, with me. - Fast forward two years, and they're here planning their wedding. - One of the things I really wanna discuss is your hopes and your dreams for that perfect wedding that we're going to be able to provide for you. We can all hono ki te wairua. - There's a few elements I wanna keep with a tikanga Maori in them. - Ae. - Yeah. - Ae. - Tikanga, yeah. - Maori-fi it, you know? Yeah, have that wairua Maori in there and, um... - Horses. - Yep. The boss here might just decide, no, we're not gonna do that. And so it's just the way that it is. - Yeah, I've got some far-out ideas, eh? - Yeah, and that's cool. - I mean, throw them all into the mix there. - BOTH: Yeah. - Really looking forward to this wedding. I've done a few weddings, but I know that this one is gonna be different, it's gonna be funny, and it's gonna be out of the box, because that's how my nephew is. - Out the box, out the gate and maybe even out the aircraft. - I just wanna jump out of a plane. - Yeah. (LAUGHS) - You know? I'll turn up with a thing on my back. - Whatever he can manage, whatever he can pull off ` yeah, I'm willing to let him do whatever. (CHUCKLES) - Cool. He's a lot of fun, and he's a really, really good young fella. And I do my weddings in my uniform, so medals etc, everything on. - Ka pai. Beautiful. - So are you happy for that? - Yeah, yeah. Oh, awesome. - I think that's be a special moment, because a lot of our whanau, they've been through this journey with me in the Navy. You know, we've done all sorts of stuff together with regard to that, - and that would be a honour for me to be able to do that. - Yeah. Oh, for me too. Ka pai. - You've been a role model for me, you know? For most of my cousins and everything, you know. Most of our uncles are all really hard fullas, you know, and all this kind of stuff. And to have an uncle from the Navy, - you know, someone with a job. Nah! - (ALL LAUGH) - Nah! Nah, a lot of the others have got jobs, yeah, but not as flash as the Navy, you know? Like, 'Oh, man, you know, Uncle Hoki's in the Navy.' But, yeah, no, I've been on a journey through my life for a while, and all the ups and downs and ins and outs and things like that. And, yeah, nah, it'll be choice. - While Mangarangi brings the big ideas, Rosalina is focused on the finer details. - The main thing was talking to Ngahiwi about how the order of service was gonna go that day. - I'm happy with what we've discussed. - Yeah. - At the end of the day, it's what youse want at your wedding. Koira te mea nui. - Ae. - I'm really glad we had this hui, cos there was a lot of things that I hadn't thought about. - Yeah. - So, yeah, this has helped a lot. So I know what I need to focus on. - BOTH: Mm. - Yeah, thank you. - Happy wife, happy life, but that's like a one-way street, eh, you know? I don't know that's fair. - (BOTH LAUGH) - I have not thoughts on that topic, Manga. - What about me? I wanna be happy too. - (BOTH LAUGH) - It went well, bloody awesome. - A putatara, a horse... - Kia ora, brother. - Kia ora, my bro. - ...and possibly an aircraft ` let's see if Mangarangi gets everything on his wish list. - Cos Rosie's so tall, I got the extra heel put on. (LAUGHS) Gives me, like, yeah, 2 inches, bro. - (RELAXED MUSIC) - It's Mangarangi and Rosalina's wedding rehearsal, so Ngahiwi is getting ready to hit the road to Mangamuka. - (MUSIC CONTINUES) - Really looking forward to this wedding ` my nephew and his soon-to-be wife. He's got some really, really funny ideas, and they're pretty epic. So hopefully they will work out for everybody. So it's gonna be a lot of fun, watching him do a couple of fails on the day. - There's a fine line between fun and fiasco. But in the sleepy settlement of Mangamuka, in the Far North, Mangarangi, Rosalina and the whanau are hard at work, getting the backyard shipshape for the wedding. - All right. Well, we'll move all of these, then. - It's all right. - True story, from when I was going up in Huntly, um... our role models were, um,... like Once Were Warriors. And then come along my Auntie Theresa, with our Uncle Hoki from the Navy. You know, wow. He's strong, and, um,... I respect him. Love you very much, Uncle Hoki. Man. Yeah, nah, oh, awesome. He's our kaikorero for my nana's wedding, for every whanau occasion that's happened in my life, birthdays ` Uncle Hoki's the man, he's there. Awesome. Yeah. - Uncle Hoki has a soft spot for his nephew as well. - So, Mangarangi's always been looking for a place to... to try and settle. - Come on. - He's from Tainui. - Come on, Bucko. Come on. Go. Follow Dad. Go, Bucko! - And he's finding it hard to settle in those areas, so he thought coming up here to the countryside would be a good idea, to get away from everything, get away from everything that's happening in Huntly and come up to this. And he's not even from Ngapuhi, but it... seems that when he first moved up here, he just rang us up and he said, 'Oh, Uncle, I really, really love this place, it's really connecting with me,' his taha wairua. And, yeah, he was... he just seemed to settle down while he was up here. - Off to Ahipara now. We're gonna go and kill us a big pig, humongous pig, about 200kgs, for our wedding. - With Ngahiwi en route and the couple's backyard now transformed, it's time to get everyone together for the powhiri at the marae across the road. - Kia ora, brother. - Kia ora, my bro. - Mangamuka Marae is the heart of this community. And with so many manuhiri attending the wedding, it's only right to welcome them first at the marae. Ko te kaupapa tuatahi, ko te powhiri o te whanau, ki konei ki mui nga hou kainga o to tatou nei whenua tapu. So our first kaupapa for this wedding, and then we're all gonna be here together for this wedding for the next couple of days, so as a whanau, we need to stay tight together. Do everything together, and if we're asked to do something, don't get grumpy, at our bride, particularly. Hey, we just go along, and we tautoko with the kaupapa, we go bend over backwards to ensure that tomorrow and the weekend is a really successful event for our manu aroha, our lovebirds, and it's really, really important that we all stick together and make that happen for our whanau. - Awesome. Ka pai? - Ka pai. - (SINGS KARANGA) Haere mai. Haere mai. - Wow. I just had so much mana walking in there. Like, cos I was in the front and just having all the whanau that had arrived early, our bridal party ` like, everyone close to us. - Waiting. All waiting for us. Wow. - Yeah, and just behind me, supporting us, you know? Yeah, and knowing what we were all there for. It was beautiful. - Haramai te toki! - Haumi e! Hui e! - ALL: Taiki e! - We noticed the sun was starting to go down, and we knew we had a dress rehearsal to do. (CHUCKLES) I was panicking a bit. There's no light in Mangamuka. (CHUCKLES) - It's dark, it's dark. - (CHUCKLES) - Haramai. Haramai. - Tonight, it's a romantic wedding rehearsal by torchlight. - It's the first time we have had a wedding rehearsal's at night-time. Our job here, all of us here, is to ensure that Rosalina and Mangarangi are prepared for this wedding. - I'm marrying this beautiful wahine because, um,... (SIGHS) She's the opposite to me. (LAUGHS) We're like chalk and cheese. There's just something... I don't even know ` I just know in here, I love you. - Cool. So stand a bit closer. Ka pai. - I'm marrying this man because... - WHISPERS: Why? The pressure. - he is... everything that I've wanted to be ` he's, um... just his freedom of speech and, um, his ability to be who he is, who he truly is, without shame or fear of being judged. Everything is 100. You know, loving me is 100. Um,... and I love him for that. - Make sure that our marena wahine is ready to go tomorrow. And make sure Mangarangi is ka pai for tomorrow as well. - Sweet as? - ALL: Ka pai. - Do you feel ready, babe? - Always ready, babe. - Sharp and ready. - (BOTH LAUGH) - It was a really, really good wedding rehearsal. And I was surprised anyone could see each other because of the colour of their skin, but we managed to get there, and Rosalina was happy, which is the main thing. - I'm looking forward to being married to my darling. I'm glad my brothers are here, my son's here ` geez, I'm probably gonna cry ` to support me and my uncle, my family. - Ka pai kotou. - Pretty awesome. Pretty awesome. - The bride and groom are ready. - I'm about to get married. (PLAYS BLUES RIFF) - So now it's all on Ngahiwi to keep this Love Boat on course. - (GENTLE MUSIC) - It's Mangarangi and Rosalina's big day, and celebrant Ngahiwi is getting into the zone. - Ko Io, ko Rangi, ko Papa, he wharikihia ki ahau ki tenei kaupapa whakahirahira. Uwhia mai to korowai i aroha ki runga ki ahau. 'First thing I do when I get up in the morning before the wedding is I have a karakia.' Haumi e, hui e, taiki e. To whakawatea myself, to make sure that I'm able to move forward with the wedding on the day. - I'm just gonna tie my hair up, like real simple. - I want to the shoe cobblers. Cos Rosie's so tall, I got the extra heel put on. (LAUGHS) Gives me, like, yeah, 2 inches, bro. - While the finishing touches are made, Mangarangi receives something special. - My mate that I dragged out of Huntly and brought up to the Far North. This is your korowai, brother. E hoa ma mo ake tonu atu, brother. - Let's cufflink up, brothers. How do you even put these things on? The only cuffs I've worn are handcuffs. (LAUGHS) (LAUGHS) - I just make sure that my uniform is dressed up and tiddly and I'm ready to perform on the day. This is tiddly, when you're sharp as ` that's our Navy speak for when we are all dressed in our uniform, looking smart. - Tiddly as! - (PLAYS BLUES HARMONICA MUSIC) Yeah, I'm about to get married. (PLAYS BLUES HARMONICA MUSIC) - So, we are awaiting the arrival of Mangarangi and his groomsmen. - And he doesn't disappoint. - Kia ora, whanau. (CHUCKLES) - Pai koe? You've got this on the wrong way. Nah. Put it that way. - As Mangarangi readies himself,... Ngahiwi welcomes the bride. - (TINKLY PIANO MUSIC) ('PO KAREKARE ANA' CONTINUES) - E noho tatou. Today, whanau, right here and right now, we are privileged to be a part of Mangarangi and Rosie's fairy-tale story of love. And guess what? We are all going to help to write the next chapter. For one day only, I am the captain of the HMNZS Love Boat. - (LAUGHTER) - So it's time to set a course for love with our minds on a new romance. So it's full ahead both engines, sit back and enjoy the ride, for we are going on a voyage of love, friendship and respect. Can I have the rings, please? - (CHUCKLES) Awesome! Taieke! - Take them to Elwin, Taieke. - (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) - Good boy, Taieke. - When you're ready, you can give your vows. - (CHUCKLES) - I'm not gonna promise anything, you know, cos I'll disappoint you in some way, probably, but my honey, I swear to love you with all my heart, and I have a big heart. I swear to be by your side, honey. - And suddenly, the man of many words is left speechless with emotion. - I'm here to love you. I'm here to love our children, all of our children, all of our whanau and our friends. - Oh my gosh. (GIGGLES) - (APPLAUSE) - Oh my goodness. (SNIFFLES) Whoo! - Rosalina, your vows, please. - I promise to hold your hand, even when I'm not around. And I'll love you always, unconditionally. - All the Mangas. - (CHEERING) - You have to love all the Mangas! There's too many of them! - (LAUGHTER) - Yeah-ah! - All the Mangas. - Oh no! There it is! - That's me, Uncle. - Yeah! - Please place the ring on his finger. - (CHEERING) - That one. - (APPLAUSE) - I now have the added honour to pronounce you husband and wife. Akuanei ha kihi koe i to wahine marena hou. - (CHEERING) - E Mangarangi, you may now kiss your bride. - Ti ha! - (CHEERING, APPLAUSE) (CHEERING, APPLAUSE CONTINUES) - E te whanau, kua tuhono nga whakapapa, kua komitimiti te toto, kua tau te wairua o nga whanau, o nga hapu, o nga iwi. Family genealogies have now been blended, tribal bloodlines have been unified, and the spirits are at rest. I'm really happy to see my nephew, who has lived with us and who has grown up with us, be married. It brings a great deal of joy to myself and to the whanau as well. - Yeah, I wanna thank you, Uncle Hoki. - Love you very much, Uncle Hoki. Man. - E aku rau rangatira ma, for the first time, I present to you Mangarangi and Rosie Puhi! Mangarangi and Rosalina... - ALL: Hui e, taiki e! - (CHEERING) - Koia te kaupapa, kia ora tatou. - Next time on Aroha Nui ` we head to Akaroa, where Richard Tankersley is overseeing proceedings,... - Emma, would you please take Adrian's hands in yours? - ...in a three-level wedding with a twist. - So, there's gonna be a few moving parts, trying to connect those three levels. - And that's before we connect to the bagless piper. - (IMITATES BAGPIPES)