Jacinda Ardern dons face-mask as New Zealand’s ex-prime minister makes Covid-safe preps for her wedding to TV fisherman Clarke Gayford at a luxury nail salon with her mother and girlfriends – after hen’s do

Preparations for Jacinda Ardern’s wedding have officially begun in a predictably Covid-safe environment.

The former New Zealand prime minister spent Friday morning preening ahead of her long-awaited wedding to TV fisherman fiancé Clark Gayford at Craggy Range Winery tomorrow.

Jacinda, 43, was joined by her mother Laurell Ardern and friends at Sen Nails & Beauty in the heart of Havelock North, in Hawke’s Bay on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island.

During the manicure, she tried her best to disguise herself – wearing a straw hat and a surgical mask.

“Jacinda and her mother were the only people in the entire salon wearing masks,” said a witness who spotted the couple.

“Clearly the pandemic is not over for the quarantine queen.”

Ardern, dressed in a casual black flowy dress, was later seen being escorted to the rear exit of the salon before she rushed to a waiting car.

On Wednesday, Ardern reportedly had a bachelorette party with a dozen girlfriends at nearby Hastings Distillers, a boutique bar known for its “organic craft spirits and liqueurs.”

The former Labor Party leader is set to tie the knot on Saturday at a $25,000-a-night restaurant.

She was forced to postpone the wedding until 2022 as her government imposed Covid-19 restrictions, reducing the number of gatherings to 100.

In a strange coincidence, Ardern’s long-time friend and fellow Labor MP Kieran McAnulty also took this weekend to marry his fiancée Gia Garrick, former press secretary to Prime Ministers Ardern and Chris Hipkins.

Despite Mr McAnulty setting his wedding date months earlier, many mutual friends have since accepted invitations to Ardern and Mr Clarke’s big day, the source said.

Mr McAnulty and Ms Garrick will say yes, at the Orua sea grotto overlooking Hot Water Beach in the Coromandel on Saturday.

Ardern, 42, has long been a fan of Craggy Range winery.

In 2020, she was photographed alongside a team of Michelin-starred chefs at the winery’s two-hat restaurant.

“I was honored that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern dined with us last night,” the photo caption reads.

“Thank you for coming out and supporting Hawke’s Bay!”

The world-famous winery is located between the stunning Te Mata Peak and the Tukituki River and was named the world’s most attractive vineyard in 2021.

This picturesque venue can accommodate up to 30 guests and must be booked for weddings.

Nestled among vineyards, Craggy Range Hotel offers an impressive wedding package for couples, including an intimate party in the winery restaurant for up to 70 people.

As an alternative, they offer a marquee for large events with a minimum cost of $25,000.

Ardern, 43, and Gayford, 47, first met at an awards ceremony in 2012, but they only started dating in 2014 when Mr Gayford contacted the then Labor Party politician in 2013 about the proposed legislation.

Before meeting Ardern, Mr Gayford was well known in New Zealand, holding various media roles as a radio presenter, DJ and presenter.

Mr Gayford currently hosts Fish of the Day, a series about fishing in the Pacific Ocean, as well as Moving Houses, a show which revolves around the process of moving houses.

The couple have a daughter together, Neve, who was born in 2018 while Ardern was in power.

New Zealand was gripped by “Jasidamania” when Ms Adern was elected prime minister in October 2011 – with the world’s youngest leader regularly surrounded by selfie-taking crowds wherever she went.

Two years later, the country was rocked by the worst terrorist attack it had ever seen when a white supremacist gunman stormed two mosques in Christchurch, killing 51 people.

Ardern has received praise around the world for her response, wearing a hijab to meet survivors and family members of victims and strengthening New Zealand’s gun laws.

She drew widespread admiration for her response to Covid, summed up in her “go hard and go early” mantra when she closed New Zealand’s borders after just 100 cases.

This meant that within seven weeks the country could achieve a level of freedom that would be the envy of other countries around the world, and also contributed to the Labor Party’s landslide victory in October 2020.

But her decision to impose repeated lockdowns in the second half of the pandemic is widely believed to have hurt small business owners and damaged the Kiwi economy.

Her push for more progressive reforms covering water, the health system, resource management and Māori rights has sparked wave after wave of domestic opposition in recent years.

By the time she announced her shock resignation last January, her popularity had plummeted.

After her resignation, she said that after five years in office, she no longer had enough money in the tank.

She then shrugged off the wedding fiasco and included a special shoutout to her partner, telling him, “And to Clark, let’s finally get married.”

‘I am human. Politicians are people too. We give our all while we can – and then it’s time. And the time has come for me. I know what this work is worth,” she said then.