'Til death do us part THE CASKETEERS' LIFETIME OF LOVE

The TV stars lift the lid on their marriage

- Marilynn Mclachlan

As New Zealand’s most famous funeral directors, Francis and Kaiora Tipene are used to dealing with grief and sadness each and every day. But for this couple – who shot to fame in 2018 with their hit television series The Casketeers – love, laughter and happiness are never far away.

When the pair sit down to talk with Woman’s Day about their incredible journey together, it’s obvious theirs is a special relationship that has only deepened since they met in 2004 at a Maori teacher’s training college in Auckland.

“When I first saw him, I was wowed,” confesses Kaiora. “I was wowed by his singing, his guitar playing – and his hair was so fine, just like now.”

And the feeling was mutual, with Francis, 36, gushing, “I loved the way she did the poi ​and was just so, so beautiful.”

Both in relationships with other people, their feelings were put on hold but eventually circumstances changed and by August they were a couple. Then, four months later, Kaiora discovered she was pregnant.

“My first thought was that I would have to get work and the second thing was facing her mother and family,” recalls Francis. “But I didn’t want to hide because I really was in deep love.”

It was a complicated situation for the two lovebirds. While they’d both grown up in similar circumstances in Northland, Francis came from a Catholic background while Kaiora’s family is Mormon.