Jacinda Ardern to finally tie the knot after delays
Updated January 13, 2024 — 10.54am
Wellington: After almost five years of engagement and a cancellation due to a pandemic, former New Zealand prime minister Dame Jacinda Ardern is set to get married to Clarke Gayford, at a venue in Hawke’s Bay on the east coast of the country’s North Island.
The couple has remained tight-lipped on details about the big day, but it’s understood the ceremony on Saturday will be small – with mostly family, very close friends and a few politicians.
Then-New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern with her partner Clarke Gayford in 2018.Credit: Getty
Preparations were underway on Saturday morning at the vineyard, with staff setting up in a large tent where the reception will likely be held.
The gates were closed to the public and security guards were posted across the grounds. One stood mostly hidden from view at the front gate, questioning workers arriving by car before letting them in.
Members of the public were stopping outside the venue regularly to peek at the preparations.
Staff could be seen setting up the area with rows of long wooden tables and chairs.
Preparations for Ardern’s wedding.Credit: Stuff
Cyclist Eli Anderson had stopped on her morning ride to take a look at the wedding venue. Anderson said she normally goes a different route on Saturdays but decided to change it to see what was happening.
When asked if she was surprised the wedding was being held in the Hawke’s Bay region, Anderson said she wasn’t, as “this place is sick”.
“Look”, she said, pointing to the views, “where else would you have it?” The couple deserved a great day, she said.
Staff prepare the venue where Ardern and Gayford will tie the knot on Saturday.Credit: Stuff
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Former New Zealand finance minister Grant Robertson and former Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard – both close friends of the former leader – are expected to attend, as is Ardern’s successor and former prime minister Chris Hipkins.
The weather has turned on for the high-profile wedding, with temperatures expected to soar to almost 30 degrees.
It has been a long road to the official ceremony for the couple with the COVID-19 pandemic putting a stop to their previous plans.
A date was set down for the summer of 2022, but the government, led by Ardern, tightened gathering rules due to the coronavirus Omicron variant forcing a cancellation.
The then prime minister said “such is life”, adding that many people had suffered much worse effects from the pandemic than a wedding disruption.
The vineyard where Stuff understands Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford will be married on Saturday.Credit: Stuff
“My wedding will not be going ahead, but I just join many other New Zealanders who have had an experience like that as a result of the pandemic,” Ardern said.
“And to anyone who’s caught up in that scenario, I’m so sorry, but we’re all so resilient, and I know we understand that we’re doing this for one another.”
Ardern and Gayford met at an awards event in 2012, with Ardern attending as a guest of NZ model and TV personality Colin Mathura-Jeffree, who’d featured on the cover of that month’s Metro magazine.
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Shortly after taking office as prime minister in 2017, Ardern announced she was pregnant. She gave birth to daughter Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford in 2018.
The couple got engaged in May 2019, after an Easter weekend trip to Mahia, a beach settlement on the North Island’s east coast, near Gayford’s hometown of Gisborne.
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