Wedding traditions of Auckland
The largest Polynesian city in the world, where Samoan, Tongan, Maori and Chinese weddings sit beside vineyard garden parties.
Auckland is home to Maori, Pacific peoples, Asian communities and settler families. New Zealand legalised same-sex marriage in 2013, the first country in the Asia-Pacific to do so. Couples can marry almost anywhere with a licensed celebrant and a marriage licence.
A wedding here
Pacific families hold large weddings with a church service, speeches, and gifts of fine mats and money. Maori couples may marry at a marae, where the hosts welcome guests with a powhiri and the hongi, the pressing of noses. The wedding feast includes a hangi, a meal cooked in an earth oven.
The season and the calendar
Summer, from December to March, is the high season. Many Pacific families wed on Saturdays and on public holidays.
Wedding customs of Auckland
Also part of it, and being written: Powhiri (The Maori welcome.), Hongi (The greeting.), Hangi (The earth-oven meal.), Same-sex marriage in New Zealand (The 2013 law.).
Communities and their weddings in Auckland
- Maori families The marae wedding.
- Samoan and Tongan families The exchange of fine mats and gifts.
- Chinese and Indian families Traditional ceremonies in halls.
A wedding trail idea for Auckland
- Auckland Domain A park and the Wintergardens.
- St Matthew-in-the-City A well-known church.
- Waiheke Island An island with vineyards used for weddings.
- Otara Market A Pacific market for cloth and flowers.
Written by the EveryShaadi desk with AI assistance. Opening hours, venues and wedding-season dates change; check locally before travelling. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.