Taika Waititi reveals Rita Ora proposed to him a few weeks before their wedding

Film-maker Taika Waititi has revealed Rita Ora proposed to him as they opened up about their private wedding to mark their one-year anniversary.

The Oscar-winning New Zealand director first met the British singer at a barbecue he hosted in 2018 and they later began dating in 2021 when they were both filming in Australia.

Ora popped the question to Waititi while they were on holiday in Palm Springs in the summer of 2022 and they got married a few weeks later on August 4.

Speaking to British Vogue, Waititi said: “She proposed to me, and I said ‘yes’ instantly.”

He added that the ceremony “wasn’t in London or in France like everyone reported”, but held in their home in Los Angeles, with only a small group of “close friends and family” in attendance and their parents on Zoom.

Waititi said his two daughters from his previous marriage, Matewa and Te, were also there and they helped make “everything really fun and easy”.

Ora revealed she wore a dress by designer and close friend Tom Ford and her mother’s pearls for the intimate ceremony.

She described it as a “beautiful” day, recalling: “My sister walked me down the aisle, and it was just really simple and blissful and calm and private and fun.”

Waititi agreed, adding: “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.”

After the ceremony, they went to the house of their friend and talent manager Guy Oseary for a dinner party, and were serenated by an Elvis impersonator.

The couple admitted they had gotten a kick out of the online speculation over the past year about how they tied the knot.

“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,” Ora said.

Reflecting on how married life has been, Waititi said he could not believe it has been a year already.

Ora added: “It feels like nothing’s changed since the day I met him at the barbecue. It just feels so good to be with my best friend.”

The singer recently released her third studio album You & I which follows on from 2018’s Phoenix and her 2012 debut Ora.

Waititi is known as the writer, producer and director of Jojo Rabbit, which he also starred in and won the Oscar for writing (adapted screenplay).

Also among his credits is the 2022 Marvel film Thor: Love And Thunder, which he wrote and directed, and the video for Ora’s new single Praising You.

The full interview is available in British Vogue.