A Wairarapa Black Power couple whose unorthodox wedding was filmed and shared widely online are "just chilling" following their newfound fame.
Cody and Ange got married on February 25 surrounded by friends and family - in what many would consider a non-traditional ceremony.
The groom was dressed in his Black Power T-shirt, shorts and sneakers, and his bride was holding a beer bottle instead of a bouquet and wearing jandals.
Their celebrant, Masterton-based Gaye Blake-Gough, told Newshub she'd done many "non-traditional weddings" in her decades performing ceremonies.
The footage shows the moment the vows are read out; Ms Blake-Gough couldn't elicit the customary 'I do' from each participant, with Cody replying exclusively with the phrase 'yoza' and Ange simply refusing to answer, instead choosing to place her fist in the air.
Ms Blake-Gough says she agreed to perform the ceremony because she believed the couple were "genuinely" in love. She said their gang affiliation didn't matter to her.
"I like to think I treat people as I find them and after meeting with Ange and Cody I realised they were genuine, they genuinely loved each other, wanted to get married and hey, that's what the government charges with me the job of doing," she says.
"My criteria is that if I want to marry or civilly unite anyone is this: Do they love each other? Do they respect each other? Do they genuinely want to get married for the right reasons?"
She had, on occasion, turned down officiating ceremonies because she didn't think the couples met those criteria for a number of reasons including to get residency.
She says she enjoyed the ceremony "very much".
Ms Blake-Gough claims there's more to the couple's story than what people know, but would only be happy to talk about it once Cody and Ange gave their blessing.
"I'm happy to talk when I have the couple's permission, but at the moment they are, in their words, 'just chilling'."
As for the unusual nuptials, Ms Blake-Gough says her philosophy was for couples to have the ceremony they want.
"I realised the only words you legally have to say in a marriage ceremony are these: 'I [full name] take you [full name] to be my [you've got a choice of legal or lawful, husband or wife] and I decided as long as weddings were done legally and the other legal things were complied with, a couple should be able to be married in the way they wanted to."
But while she enjoyed the ceremony, she did have one regret.
"My father always said to me when I was growing up: 'There's one thing in life Gaye you must never do is get someone's name wrong' and oh my gosh, I called him Cory in the wedding ceremony that was filmed instead of Cody.
"I'm really perturbed about that error of mine."
Newshub.
