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I'm not a kiwi - but I am an American with a kiwi partner - and our wedding is the day before yours!!!
I didn't know a whole lot about weddings in general before coming to the bee, but Kiwi weddings do not seem to differ from American ones very much at all in my experience (I have been to one and heard about many from my kiwi friends). I could probably not think of a single thing that is different in fact except that weddings in NZ (at least the ones I have heard about) seem to be a bit more low key than ones in the US i.e. - you mentioned the example of them not doing rehearsal dinners. We definitely seem to have more elements in our weddings than kiwis seem to.
There is one thing I could suggest -maybe you could have a classic NZ dessert like a pavlova? I don't know if you have ever eaten that but it's yummy. There are many great kiwi desserts that you could incorporate as well like lamingtons for example. Or maybe get some NZ candy (pineapple lumps, jaffas, etc) and create a special NZ themed candy bar?
The messages from people who could not make it is something that seems to happen at kiwi weddings but did not happen at the one I attended.
There are a few kiwi brides on these boards - also if you look for sarahtdn's (i think that was her name) posts and photos in the gallery, she married a kiwi and had a few kiwi elements - ie a cake with a kiwi bird topper.
Anyway feel free toPM me anytime if you want to chat about the cultural difference thing or anything.
Wildstyle! You're brilliant! I LOVE LOVE pavlova and it is such a classic kiwi dessert. Also, the candy would be a great idea. I'm not super hot on pineapple lumps, but jaffas and winegums are some of my faves!
I wasn't planning on having a candy bar of any sort, but now that you mention those things it might be fun to just add some of them somewhere.
I agree with the low key thing too. We're going to have a pretty casual wedding so I feel like his family will love it and feel right at home.
I figured there wouldn't be much of a response, but I was curious. Thanks for your advice!
Funny that our weddings are 1 day apart!
Hahaha - don't worry - the kiwis and aussies on wb will start following you like they did me!
pav seems to be the thing the kiwi folks get the most excited over. try freezing the pineapple lumps and i bet you'll like em better (that's what made me into a fan)
my partners idea for favors was jaffas, jet planes and pineapple lumps on every table (somehow). you could also give each guest a peanut slab as a favor which is more traditional chocolate that americans would like better (not a personal fan of the peanut slab but i don't like nuts in candy)
i actually wanted my wedding on the 2nd too but trying to book a venue in vegas on a saturday if you don't want to do one of the chapels was SO hard so we settled for a friday night wedding. we chose our date b/c of NZ school holidays.
So funny! We had to do that weekend because of school holidays as well. His mom and sister are both teachers and that weekend (as you know) is halfway through the holiday!
I don't want a NZ themed wedding (seems kinda cheesy to me), but I love all the little touches you've suggested. He and I both wear a greenstone and I've been trying to find some inviations or designs that have a spiral design like his stone. I've found some, but I'm still looking. The fern is a good idea too and will be easier I bet.
I'm with you on the peanut slab. Not to my liking, but he loves them. I think having those things on every table is a great idea. Or maybe doing little favor bags with a bunch of jaffas or winegums in them. We're donating most of our favor money, but I want to have a little candy and a note that says so. That would work well.
Cheers!
i have that spiral-y greenstone too! totally NOT a fan of a NZ theme wedding idea either - and the kiwis would be bored by that anyhow.
cheers to you as well and im here if you need me!!
G'day- Kiwi-living bee here. Love you're ideas. Is your partner Maori or Pakeha? Maybe there are some more traditional kiwi elements that you could bring into the ceremony. I think that the hongi is a beautiful greeting, and could be incorporated into the ceremony. Or maybe a traditional karakia (prayer song) or welcoming song? I suppose it depends on how connected he feels to these traditions culturally.
Holla, I'm a born n bred kiwi living in kiwiland. We're getting married in 11 months (Feb 2011), yay!
I've been wracking my brains trying to think of kiwi traditions and I'm starting to think we're not such an original country.
Maybe have a grooms cake with number 8 wire on it? Ha. No seriously, we're big on our little kiwiana stuff, check out this list for some inspiration maybe? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiwiana#Well-known_examples
Oh and this one has been going around a while and is good for some giggles:
http://auswormblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/how-to-speak-new-zillund.jpg
Oh and Wildstyle "pav seems to be the thing the kiwi folks get the most excited over." Funny call!
Hi! I'm a recent Kiwi bride. Check out our photographer's site (www.perspectivesphotography.co.nz) for examples of Kiwi weddings. You're right, weddings down here are much more low-key than the examples I have seen on Weddingbee. No-one does STDs or gobo's or proper rehearsal dinners, although plenty of weddings that I have been to have included picnics or take-out for the bridal party on the rehearsal night, purely for logistics' sake. I have yet to see a candy bar around here, so you know. We also tend to go lighter on florals than most.
Have you thought of including something about the All Blacks? If you are keen on the idea of a groom's cake (not a Kiwi tradition), I can't think of a better surprise for a Kiwi bloke than a rugby ball or an All Blacks shirt or something. Next to the All Blacks, find out which regional team your hubby supports (it might not be his own)
This wedding is all Kiwi, IMO: http://www.instantphotos.co.nz/blog/hahei-wedding-photos-jon-gemmas-sneak-peek/. Photos by Perspectives Photography.
I just looked through wellykiwi's link to Wikipedia. The most subtle but appreciated touches of Kiwi, I reckon, would be things like hokey pokey ice cream, tomato sauce (you can leave the tomato-shaped container!) and pav. Pavlova is easy to make. We eat it with fruit salad, cream and the aforementioned ice cream.
I'm mareying a kiwi too! i asked him about wedding tradtions and he couldn't think of any. because we will be getting married in australia, I will be buying him L&P which is a kiwi drink as a suprise for him to be getting ready and I hope it will be in some of his 'getting ready' shots
Well, this is probably not really helpful, but I'm engaged to an Aussie. I did ask him about wedding traditions we might want to observe, and the only thing he came up with was fruitcake. That was a big no from me, ick--luckily he doesn't like it either.
Pavlova and lamingtons are awesome, though.
@texas - fruit cake - yes! they have fruit cake wedding cakes - with raisins and such. i actually liked this but i bet most people wouldn't.
@miss geek - L&P is yummy! I also thought about trying to serve L&P
Oh yeah serve L&P with hokey pokey icecream!Little stuff like that, is what we love. I thik the "spiral shape" you are looking for might be a koru-try looking it up online, you coud incorporate that somehow.
By the way I'm a totally kiwi bride, marry a kiwi man in the mainland (south island)!!!
and I'm doing save the dates as my friends are all in UK/Aussie/or travelling!But our save the dates tend to be a publisher print our. The other thing we never do in Engagement Photos. Unless its mum and dad doing it lol
NZer here. Our weddings aren't any different to US ones.
I suggest you have a pav or 3 for dessert though. :)
We don't do rehearsal dinners. But it's common for there to be a big dinner party beforehand. Is that the same? I'm not too sure what a rehearsal dinner is to be honest.
I think it does depend on your future husband, but if you try to get all kiwiana it'll just come across tacky, like a Taihape Diner ;) It also might not be appropriate to do a mihi, karakia or hongi.
If you're in the upper north you can have a nice beach wedding or in a park.
So exciting!
http://ideas.weddingbee.com/topic/new-zealand-local-board
Vote please, my kiwi friends!
obviously this isn't a tradition but my friends entered their reception to "Slice of Heaven."
hah, i guess a kiwi tradition could be making sure your dance music includes lots of Exponents, Split Enz and Dave Dobbyn songs.
I'm Australian, my DH is a Kiwi, and we're both living in and were married in Auckland. The most Kiwi part of our wedding was a surprise - FIL brought a live sheep on stage during his speech! (DH's nickname used to be 'farmboy' so FIL brought it out as his ex-girlfriend...) The Aussie guests are still raving about it.
Our other Aussie / Kiwi touches:
* favours / lolly additions to the dessert buffet were chocolate fish (NZ classic) and caramello koalas
* the wines were Australian and New Zealand varieties
* we had an Australian (willie wagtail) and New Zealand (fantail) bird on our invitations and stationery, in that bird & branch silhouette style that's so common on etsy etc at the moment
* the bouquets and table arrangements had Australian gum leaves and New Zealand ferns in them
I've never heard of fruitcake as being a particularly Kiwi thing. I thought fruitcake is a traditional wedding cake in most countries (probably being European originally)...? Most people have ditched the tradition (including at most of the weddings I've attended) because not many people actually like it.
But pavlova, definitely - although Australians would argue that they invented it (and there's actually no evidence that has definitively proven it either way!) And lamingtons would have to be pink - chocolate lamingtons are most definitely Australian but I'd never heard of pink lamingtons until I moved to NZ.
I love all the Kiwi ideas out there. I definitely think going the subtle route is the way to go. We're thinking of having a candy table. We're thinking something like M&Ms from the US (for me), pineapple lumps and jaffas from NZ (for FI), some argentinian chocolate (for my dad) and jordan almonds (an Italian tradition for my mom). Quite the mix, but I think it will look nice and be a nice touch!
I also want to have a Pav, because they're SO amazingly yummy. We'll see how I can make that happen.
L&P would be awesome! I don't know how we'd get it to the states though. Too bad!
Thanks for the input ladies!
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Hi! I'm marrying a New Zealand born and bred boy this coming October and I just wanted to see if there's anything that happens at a "classic" New Zealand wedding that I could include? Yes, I can ask him or his family but it would be fun to be a surprise too. By the way, I'm American.
I know this is a hard question to answer, but I thought I'd at least put it out there! Just as an example...we were talking to his parents yesterday and they said "are you going to have one of those rehearsal dinners that we see on tv?" While that may be something some New Zealanders do, it sounded like something uncommon down there. Made me think that there are at least cultural references available to see the differences in American from Kiwi weddings.
Another example: at his sister's wedding he (as MC) read emails from people that couldn't make it. That was something I had never heard of at a wedding here, but I loved!
Does that make sense? Thanks for help if you have it!