To be honest, before heading up to Longview for this wedding my experience of the haka had been limited to watching the All Blacks intimidate the hell out of whoever they were about to destroy (actually, not entirely true, I saw the Tall Blacks play Team USA at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 and they did an on-court haka after they’d just lost by 50 points – didn’t have the same impact).Anyway, when I learned Arty’s dad and brother would be performing the haka at the reception I was really looking forward to it. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was expecting but it turns out a wedding haka is equally ferocious as a sporting haka, and these two men who had been absolute gentlemen all day were momentarily transformed into warriors.
The haka wasn’t the only Maori influence on the day, a bunch of Arty’s relatives who made the trek from NZ sang a beautiful song at the reception, accompanied by Arty’s dad Bryce on guitar, and were ultimately joined by Arty and Keith up the front.
These cultural treats were really the icing on the cake of what had already been an incredibly beautiful day, a great reminder of everything I love about this job.
