Wedding guests love the waterfront setting at the award-winning Duke of Marlborough hotel.
Wedding guests love the waterfront setting at the award-winning Duke of Marlborough hotel.
Russell’s illustrious waterfront hotel, the Duke of Marlborough, took home the prestigious Most Outstanding Boutique Hotel award for wedding ceremonies and venue at the Wedding Industry Awards New Zealand 2025.
The eighth annual awards evening was held in Wellington on June 7. Wedding Industry Awards NZ is the brainchild ofprincipal directors Peter and Valeta Duncan, of The Love Company (formerly known as The Wedding Guy Company).
While not a new concept, until 2014 New Zealand had no event which formally recognised wedding industry professionals.
Bridget Haagh, known as the Duchess at the Duke and the team leader for the wedding planners, said being honoured for this and so much more “is incredibly special to us”.
The wedding planners at the Duke of Marlborough Hotel in Russell. From left: Rowen Reemers, Bridget Haagh (Duchess and co-owner) and Beth Gunter.
The feedback from the brides and grooms is that the waterfront setting and the interior of the historic ballroom is what makes the wedding day memorable.
Over the 15 years, there have been a few memorable occasions.
At one wedding this past summer, the bride, groom and wedding party all went skinny-dipping at the beach. Three different (non-wedding) guests returned their clothes to the Duke Hotel the next day.
There was a time when Bridget had to take over being the MC for a wedding where the allocated MC got a “bit excited too early” drinking champagne and had to “head off to bed early”, which is a polite and euphemistic way of saying they were drunk.
There is always a potential power cut to contend with as Russell is known for its reasonably regular stoppages.
“We have had power cuts in the middle of an event but none of the guests would know because we have a supersonic generator that kicks in during an event,” she said.
One thing they have never experienced is the bride or the groom not turning up for the big day.
“But we have had a few cancellations a few days out from the chosen day,” Haagh said.
Bridget Haagh co-owns the hotel with her husband Anton, Jayne Shirley and Riki Kinnaird. She leads the wedding planning team and is aided by fulltimers Rowen Reemers and Beth Gunter.
They manage each event by crafting personalised run sheets and floor plans. With attention to detail like that, it’s no surprise they won the award.
Artists celebrate Matariki
In December last year, the Kororāreka Haratu Marae in Russell hosted an art exhibition for the first time, where 26 artists exhibited their work.
This year the marae will host an exhibition of local artists to celebrate Matariki. The exhibition runs through the school holidays from Sunday June 29 to Saturday July 12.
The exhibition is the brainchild of Catarina Sutter and Cornelia Schmidt, both local artists.
An artistic interpretation by Catarina Sutter who will be exhibiting and helped to curate the exhibition.
It’s the third Matariki art exhibition, the first two were held at South Pacific Art in York St, Russell, but this time it has been moved to the marae, based on the success of last year’s exhibition held there.
Cornelia Schmidt is manager of the coffee house and gift store at Pompallier Mission house and she says the exhibition will be “womanned” by several of the artists.
Among those exhibiting are Maureen Woodcock, the Kammerer twins Lia and Kira, and Jacqui Madelin who does bird paintings on recycled wood. According to Sue Fitzmaurice, who curated the first exhibition at Haratu Marae, there is “no doubt” that Catrina Sutter will be exhibiting her work.
Russell artist Kira Kammerer with some of her work, pictured in 2023.
Lia is twin sister to Kira Krammerer and both twins will be exhibiting at Haratu Marae for Matariki this year.
The Kororāreka Marae Society was formed in 1991 with the purpose of establishing a community marae. The vision was to secure a marae as a whare rūnanga, open to all who live there as well as the wider community of the rohe. The marae was established for the benefit of all and to celebrate Te Ao Māori.
The site of the marae is significant because it was where the former pā-kāinga of chief Rewa Mānu (Ngai Tawake ki Moana, Patukeha) had his own whare. The current whare is named “Haratu”, after Rewa’s whare.
