New Zealand First MP Shane Jones with Bride Dot Pumipi on their wedding day. Photo / William Tuiravakai of Island Photo Ltd
New Zealand First MP Shane Jones married his partner Dot Pumipi on an idyllic Pacific Island beach today.
The couple tied the knot before about 60 guests, including Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, at the Rarotongan Beach Resort under an archway of frangipani and palm trees.
Photos show the couple embracing on a white-sanded beach with flowers in their hair before a turquoise Pacific Ocean.
The marriage almost wasn't able to go ahead due to a hiccup in wedding planning.
Cook Islands law requires the bride and groom to be in the island nation for at least three full working days before they can legally marry there.
The couple and their guests flew in on January 2 - a public holiday - so had been there for only two full working days before their big day.
The Northland-based politician previously said the couple only realised this six weeks ago and had to call in favours from friends he had made while serving as ambassador for Pacific Economic Development to get a marriage licence.
Dorothy "Dot" Pumipi previously said although they had been fully committed to one another for several years, they were "excited to make it official".
"I've had several years of being introduced as 'Shane's partner' I can't wait for the day now to be 'Shane's wife'. That always was a little bit of a bug bear for me so that's the part that I'm really looking forward to so it's more formal."
Shane Jones popped the question just over 12 months ago on New Year's Eve in a what Pumipi descried as the "perfect" setting at a resort in the western Solomons.
'Police cannot rule out the possibility of further arrests and charges.'