A Rurutu wedding 💍

One week of celebrations, eating and gifting.

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It’s my second wedding anniversary, and my sister-in-law just passed her first in April. Zoé and her husband Jean (along with their two kids, Ioane and Myriam) had two weddings; the first at the same town hall in which Martin and I were married at, followed by a ma’a Tahiti (a big feast made in underground ovens with hot stones), and the second in Rurutu.

We weren’t sure if we’d make the Rurutu wedding as Auguste, only around 6-weeks-old at the time, had contracted bronchiolitis. Luckily his cough cleared up in time for our April flight and we headed to Fa’aa airport with the rest of the family.

Off to the Australs

Rurutu is part of the Austral Islands, further south than where we are. It’s a mountainous island with a more temperate weather pattern and is known for phenomenal whale watching, as the reef is along the shoreline, so the whales come very close to shore to protect their babies.

We flew via Air Tahiti out of Fa’aa Airport and immediately ran into a (now) hilarious series of problems. We’d left Auguste’s birth certificate (his only form of ID) at home, and then my mother-in-law realised she’d never completed his ticket purchase, as we’d purchased tickets so far in advance! Luckily for us we had plenty of time to get a photo of Auguste’s ID and a ticket issued before boarding started as our flight was massively delayed.

I love taking inter-island flights as they’re usually on small (50-ish person) planes that have propellors. Watching the islands and atolls through the clouds is always a treat and many of the planes will make multiple stops (like a shuttle bus) so you get a little glimpse of other islands nearby.

A week of wedding celebrations

I felt so lucky to get to experience a traditional Rurutu wedding (called an umu’ai) as a guest. It was pretty spectacular! Everything was hosted at Jean’s parents’ (Rosa and Gilbert) house where they’d set up long tables under temporary marquees decorated with flowers and coconut tree fronds.

As a tradition, the bride and groom will be visited by each of the families on the island before the wedding day. The whole family will wear outfits made from matching material (usually something colourful and floral) and will dress up the bride and groom in the same, along with gifted hats, flower crowns and jewellery.

The family will often arrive to a loud song and dance, there will be speeches and then the presentation of gifts while the wedding party is seated. The gifts could include handmade quilts and quilted pillows, rugs, bunches of bananas and taro, even live pigs!

The family will then be served a big shared meal of poisson cru (raw fish in coconut milk), fafa (sautéed taro leaves, kind of tastes like spinach), fafaru (fermented fish, can have a VERY strong scent/flavour), taro, and grilled fish.

The bride and groom will sit through three or more family presentations each day leading up to the main wedding day. At the end of the week, the house was filled with gifts.

Zoé’s wall of hats

The big day

Zoé and Jean were married in the temple in town accompanied by friends and family in lots of brightly patterned outfits. All of the siblings are part of the wedding party and were dressed in the same fabric as each other. A hat was mandatory and luckily someone found one for me to wear as I hadn’t purchased one yet.

After the ceremony we went back to Rosa and Gilbert’s house to feast again. The meal was impressive considering the number of guests. The music was pumping, drinks were flowing, and kids were running across the road to play on the beach.

Mountains and grottos

While most of the week was spent on wedding activities, we had a few moments of exploration.

A tour of the island by rental car took us along the coastal road which follows the rugged, dramatic cliffs. At times the road had been carved into the rock and we had mountain on one side, and a steep drop to the reef and ocean on the other. We then turned inland and followed the mountainous roads as the sun started to set.

We also visited some grottos which were an easy walk from the road in most cases. These eerie caves with stalactites hanging from the ceiling are scattered all over the island. We unfortunately didn’t have time to do any of the hikes that take you through some of the more dramatic ones. The ones we did visit – hearing our voices echo and the drip, drip, drip of water from the ceiling – were magical.

Purchasing local handicrafts

If you don’t come back with a locally made hat, did you even visit Rurutu? That was my question to myself as I searched through the various styles woven in pandanus. I found my dream hat at a local craft market, and a pair of earrings that I love (but can’t wear with the baby because he loves to pull them out).

Within the airport is a little shop that sells hats, bags, and fresh flower necklaces. I’d seen a magnificent bag when we arrived that refused to leave my head, so on the way out I made the snap decision to take it home with me. Other things to look out for include hand-dyed pareos, fans, shell jewellery, and rugs.

A successful first holiday!

Auguste’s first trip was great fun. He enjoyed the plane ride, celebrated with us, and overall managed really well in a new environment. I’d like to head back one day to visit Rosa and Gilbert’s without all the business of the wedding so we can explore more grottos, do a hike, and maybe swim with some whales.

Thank you to Emile for providing some of the photos for this article! Check out his podcast, French Through Stories, here.

Free download – phone wallpapers to brighten your day

I have recently become obsessed with customising my phone wallpaper and discovered that I can set it as a photo of Auguste that changes every hour. Talk about an instant dopamine hit!

I figured not everyone is going to get the same amount of dopamine looking at my child making various weird faces, so for this month’s free download I’ve created a couple of phone backgrounds that will (hopefully) transport you from your busy work day to a moment of calm and tranquility.