New Zealand's former prime minister Jacinda Ardern and her longtime partner fiance Clarke Gayford said "I do" to each other at an intimate wedding ceremony in sunny Hawke's Bay, on Saturday.
After nearly five years of being engaged and one cancellation due to a pandemic, the couple wed today at Craggy Range Winery under a canopy of trees in front of between 50 to 75 people, the news site Stuff reported.
In the first official wedding photos released today, Ardern, who became a global icon for left-leaning politics, was seen smiling wearing a white halter-neck dress in official photos alongside Gayford who donned a black suit.
The bride arrived surrounded by several people holding umbrellas under the warm Hawke’s Bay sun. At 4pm, she walked down a 30-meter-long aisle, as music played behind her from a secluded vineyard.
The couple's five-year-old daughter Neve walked down the aisle with her father, wearing a dress made of fabric from her grandmother Laurell Ardern’s wedding dress, the New Zealand Herald reported.
The ceremony ended just after 4:30pm, with cheers from the guests enjoying the ceremony and the warm weather filled the air, making it a memorable event.
The newlyweds Ardern and Gayford could be seen mingling with the guests ahead of the reception.
According to the New Zealand Herald, the guests included opposition leader Chris Hipkins, Ardern's successor as prime minister.
Ardern, 43, and Gayford, 47, had scheduled their wedding for early 2022 after getting engaged in May 2019 but had to postpone it due to the pandemic.
Ardern who also became a global icon for women in leadership as prime minister in 2017, gave her final speech in January last year, where she told Gayford, a New Zealand television presenter, "Let's finally get married."
