Rita Ora and Taika Waititi spill details of low-key wedding

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi share their wedding secrets: She proposed to him, and they said ‘I do’ in L.A.

Taika Waititi, wearing a black suit, poses with Rita Ora, wearing a white dress and fancy necklace

By Jonah ValdezStaff Writer

Aug. 4, 2023 1:59 PM PT

Rita Ora and Taika Waititi have finally cleared the air about their mysterious wedding of a year ago.

For the past year, rumors about the couple’s wedding have swirled online. Now, to celebrate their first wedding anniversary, the pop singer-actor and the Oscar-winning filmmaker set the record straight with Vogue on a few details about their private ceremony and shared photos and video from the big day.

Turns out, the rumor mill got a few things right: Ora, 32, did pop the question to Waititi, 47, last summer — “I said ‘yes’ instantly,” he told Vogue. And they did get married in early August 2022 (Aug. 4, to be exact), only a month after the proposal.

However, a glaring discrepancy remained: the location. Multiple reports, including one from The Times, had put their intimate ceremony in London, where Ora grew up. It turns out that was a continent away from the truth. The couple actually got married in Los Angeles inside their home in front of a small group of friends and family.

“It wasn’t in London or in France like everyone reported,” the “Jojo Rabbit” and “Thor: Ragnarok” director said.

Ora added, “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.”

As the rumors about the couple’s marriage bubbled, the “For You” singer confirmed in a U.K. radio interview in January that she and Waititi had tied the knot in 2022 but shared little else.

About eight people attended their impromptu L.A. ceremony, which took only two weeks to plan, according to Vogue. The singer’s sister, Elena Ora, walked her down the aisle. Waititi’s best friend, Jemaine Clement, flew in last-minute from their native New Zealand. Both sets of parents watched the ceremony over Zoom. Also on hand were the director’s two young daughters from his previous marriage to film producer Chelsea Winstanley. The girls “made everything really fun and easy,” Waititi said.

“It was beautiful, just having close friends and not having it too big,” he said, adding that he and his bride enjoyed not having the pressure and stress of having caterers, table settings and tardy guests.

“I felt really peaceful actually,” Ora agreed. “It was almost like another day. We just all dressed up and got married.”

Photos from the wedding showed Ora in her Tom Ford-designed dress, an understated, white and semi-sheer body-con dress that hugged the singer’s torso, legs and a single arm with its intricately stitched designs. The groom went with a classic dark blue suit and tie with a windowpane pattern. They posed kissing in front of a classic 1970s Dodge Charger and with the Hollywood sign behind them.

Other photos showed a simple cake the size of a dinner plate and moments of the pair dancing with an Elvis impersonator singing alongside them.

Ora and the “What We Do in the Shadows” filmmaker have remained fairly quiet about their relationship, save for Waititi’s pithy Instagram posts about the two of them hitting high-profile events together.

They made their relationship red-carpet official in August 2021 at the Los Angeles premiere of “The Suicide Squad.” Then they went viral in March 2022 when they stepped out for the Vanity Fair Oscar party and Waititi showed off his internet-boyfriend charm by enthusiastically kneeling to adjust the train of Ora’s dress for a photo op.

They have since regularly attended public events together, including the Met Gala in New York in May.