Taika Waititi has shared new details about his and Rita Ora’s relationship, with the filmmaker revealing that his wife was the one to propose.
“She proposed to me, and I said ‘yes’ instantly,” Waititi told Vogue of the moment he and Ora got engaged while on vacation in Palm Springs in the summer of 2022, a year after they began dating.
The couple, who are celebrating their one-year wedding anniversary, also clarified details about the intimate wedding they held on 4 August 2022. According to Waititi, the pair exchanged vows in Los Angeles, and not “in London or in France like everyone reported”.
“It was in LA with a small group of friends,” he told the outlet, while Ora revealed that the nuptials were actually held at the couple’s home.
However, the couple said they didn’t mind the flood of inaccurate reports about their wedding, as Ora revealed they actually found it “quite entertaining”.
“It’s actually been quite entertaining for us to see the different stories people made up and all the while getting to keep it to ourselves,” the “For You” singer said. “And, I love that we now get to share what really happened - and to do it on our one-year anniversary no less!”
As for what the nuptials really entailed, Waititi said the couple was joined by just “eight people,” a group made up of close family and friends, and that their parents joined via Zoom.
According to Ora, who wore a Tom Ford gown for the special day, her sister Elena was the one who walked her down the aisle, with the singer describing the nuptials as “really simple and blissful and calm and private and fun”. The couple also shared never-before-seen photos of their wedding with Vogue in honour of their first anniversary.
“Yeah, it was beautiful,” the Thor: Love and Thunder star confirmed. “Just having close friends and not having it too big. We didn’t have table settings or any of the stressful things that go along with weddings, and it was nice to just have it super simple. My daughters were there, and they made everything really fun and easy: I think just because we didn’t have the pressure of having caterers and all of these things, you know, people turning up late, and all of the different moving parts.”
Ora also noted that the casual nature of the nuptials meant the day felt “really peaceful”.
“It was almost like another day. We just all dressed up and got married,” she said.
Waititi and Ora first met in 2018, at a barbecue hosted at the New Zealand-based filmmaker’s house in Los Angeles. They didn’t begin dating until 2021, when they were both filming in Australia.
In an interview with Glamour in May, Ora revealed why she and Waititi decided to keep their wedding “private,” with the singer acknowledging her public-facing life and career.
“Some women like to feel that real special attention that day. And everyone’s different. And for me - I think with my job, it is all… it’s very attention driven - I wanted to keep it private because my life and my career aren’t,” she explained.
