Pictures: Renee Lansdowne.
It’s a very modern, very Kiwi, very Gen Z fairytale – meeting the love of your life in a mud-splattered mosh pit at Rhythm and Vines.
Staring down at the sparkling emerald-cut diamond on her finger, Millie Elliott and her fiancé, Chiefs and Māori All Blacks rugby star Ollie Norris, laugh as they realise how far they’ve come from that fateful night at the Gisborne music festival six years ago.
“It’s where all true love starts, right?” laughs Ollie, 25.
But as they celebrate their engagement with Woman’s Day, the Hamilton couple say they’re astounded they didn’t meet earlier as they have so many mutual friends.
“I think I even tied his toga on at a university party years before that,” smiles social media manager Millie, 25. “We’d kind of met three times before we properly met. There were so many instances where we’d been at the same events. Ollie had even come to a party I hosted!
“That invisible string theory, where things keep you apart until the timing is right, must be true! From when we met at R&V, we had a first date, then pretty much just went for it. It was meant to be!”
Well, there was also a bit of Instagram stalking, notes Ollie, who only realised Millie was interested in him after he saw she’d liked an old photo on his profile.
The prop laughs, “It was a shirtless one, so I thought, ‘Maybe I’m in here!’ The next day happened to be her birthday, so I had a good excuse to message – and here we are.”
The couple, who grew up in the Bay of Plenty, have now been together for six years. Huge professional success has marked this time, alongside a few challenges. The pair had to move in together early in their relationship due to COVID lockdowns.
“We figured it would go one of two ways – we’re happy it went this way!” says Millie. “It forced us to really dive in. We wouldn’t have moved as quickly if it wasn’t for COVID, but it’s always been very easy.”
Ollie adds, “It has just worked. Millie’s full of energy and has so much happiness, it’s hard to be sad when she’s around. She lights up a room. Rugby can have its ups and downs, so to come home to her on a bad day – or a good day! – is the best.”
For Millie, it’s Ollie’s kindness she loves most. “He’s so thoughtful and loving – he’s like a BFG [Big Friendly Giant]. I know he’s going to be the most amazing husband and father to our kids one day.”
Ollie’s thoughtfulness was on full display for his epic proposal – a moment he’d planned for more than a year.
He grins, “I asked her parents when Millie was in Europe in 2023. It was the only time I was away from her and could do it. Her poor mum had to keep that secret and the ring was sitting in the centre console of the car for seven months before I proposed!”
Laughs Millie, “I can’t believe I missed it – I even made a joke about proposing to Ollie. I said, ‘I bet you’ll have so much fun making the whole thing a game!’”
“So I did!” tells Ollie. “I kept hiding the ring in plain sight and telling her it wasn’t happening any time soon.”
But when it was finally time to get serious, during one of his two weekends of guaranteed leave per year, Ollie knew there was only one place he could pop the question – Millie’s beloved family bach in Matapaua Bay in the Coromandel.
He explains, “Millie had done an engagement photoshoot for our friends and had her camera in the car. So, I said to her, ‘It’d be nice to have some photos like that ourselves,’ but she wasn’t keen.”
Adds Millie, “There was a lot of accidental self-sabotage!”
But eventually, Ollie managed to set his plan into action. He recalls, “I grabbed the ring out of my undies and I was ready to go, but I was wearing dress shorts and they were a bit tight, so I had to go down on one knee.”
For Millie, it was the perfect moment. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more. When we got back to the bach, my parents were there and it was so special.”
Now wedding planning is in full flight for a December ceremony – Ollie’s on music and Millie’s on pretty much everything else – while they balance their busy lives around work, fishing, card games and walking their new pup Bagel.
“We just love to spend time together,” says Millie. “With Ollie’s job, we don’t often have a lot, so we make the most out of what we have. We can’t wait to spend more time together once we’re husband and wife.”
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