Society Insider: Rich-list property developer Nigel McKenna and wellness entrepreneur Sarisa Nasinprom’s lavish engagement party at Abstract hotel

“Not all our friends will be able to join us in Thailand, so this evening was about creating a space where we could celebrate with them,” McKenna tells Society Insider.

McKenna, 61, who moved to New Zealand from Ireland many years ago, says Thailand is the ideal location for the couple’s nuptials.

Nasinprom, 39, who was born in Thailand and moved to New Zealand 10 years ago, says having the ceremony in her homeland is extra special for her because it will allow her to share its beauty with those friends who attend.

“Sharing places you love with people you love is one of life’s greatest pleasures,” she said.

The couple at their engagement party at McKenna’s Abstract Hotel. Photo / Paul Menezes

McKenna, the founder and chief executive of property developer Templeton Group, says they also chose Thailand over New Zealand as it’s a more convenient journey for his Ireland-based family and friends.

The couple met three and a half years ago, at award-winning Italian restaurant Baduzzi. They have travelled extensively together throughout their relationship, researching the world’s best luxury hotels and spas in Asia and Europe for McKenna’s property developments and Nasinprom’s luxury spa and wellness centre, Sa Ni, at the Abstract hotel.

McKenna proposed on their first anniversary, which they spent at the luxury hotel Belmond Splendido in Portofino, Italy.

It wasn’t until earlier this year, on their third anniversary, that he finally presented her with her engagement ring, which he had specially made by Dublin jewellers Weir and Sons.

The couple live in a beautiful heritage apartment in Mt Eden and have spent much of the last 12 months travelling between New Zealand and Thailand, caring for family and arranging their wedding.

At the engagement party on Saturday, guests walked a red carpet and arrived through the Abstract hotel’s Wintergarden, where they were welcomed warmly by McKenna and Nasinprom.

Guests mingle at the party, staged by designer Hayley Brown.

The couple complemented each other sartorially, dressed in burgundy and shades of brown. Nasinprom, a former model, wore Elisabetta Franchi and McKenna wore Working Style.

The hotel’s entire ground floor had been spectacularly dressed in red and gold and staged by designer and creative director Hayley Brown.

Surprising and spectacular performances by elite cirque performers, The Dust Palace and The Brazilian Divas dancers, took place throughout the evening, while musician Josh Leys kept the party pumping with live vocal performances.

Circus performers The Dust Palace, painted in red and gold.

Guests were offered Sensi Prosecco DOC on arrival and an array of delicacies from the hotel’s Italian restaurant Alla Prossima, while a side bar served paired cocktails: a spicy Thai margarita (the Sarisa) and a negroni-inspired cocktail (the Nigel).

Alla Prossima’s executive chef Gabriele Marangoni and his team prepared large grazing tables with Italian cured meats and cheeses, and caprese salad with buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes. Dinner was served in the hotel’s Gallery restaurant with roast porchetta and standout pasta dishes such as porcini and truffle ravioli with scallop and asparagus sauce, and the chef’s signature Bolognese lasagne.

The showstopper was a huge, one-metre-wide tiramisu cake dusted with cocoa, made by Marangoni and presented to McKenna and Nasinprom to cut before sharing with all the guests.

The happy couple cut their metre-wide tiramisu. Photo / Paul Menezes

The party unfolded into the adjoining Terrace Bar and Library Lounge, which houses an enviable library of collector’s edition books, with walls adorned by a stunning selection of photographs from Nelson artist Jose G. Cano’s Aqua Ingravitas Series.

Guests included Nigel’s daughter Michelle and son Mark, with their partners, and a vibrant gathering of friends, relatives and business contacts from across the couple’s lives. Attendees included the Minister for Education and Immigration, Erica Stanford and her husband Kane, who is the general manager of NZ-based beverage business Besos Margarita.

McKenna and the Minister of Education, Erica Stanford. Photo / Paul Menezes

Also attending was Martin Cooper, managing director of Harcourts Cooper & Co; Bayleys’ Aman Pannu and his wife Sophie; healthcare and retirement village magnates Cliff and Neville Cook; hospitality legends Sid and Chand Sahrawat; Jennifer Hanson from A Studio Architects; former TV presenter Toni Marsh and her husband, construction chief executive Paul Gunn; commercial property financier Martyn Reesby; retail leasing guru Jayna Lala and her husband Vijay; and Allan Botica, founder of Botica Butler Raudon PR.

Neville and Cliff Cook with Martin Cooper. Photo / Paul Menezes

Several free-flowing bars served an array of wines from McKenna’s award-winning Central Otago winery, including a chardonnay from Master of Wine Sam Harrop and a special-edition rosé, The Sarisa, a wine with its own back story.

“I’m very fond of rosé and I have a vineyard in Central Otago that produces excellent pinot noir grapes, so I thought we should produce some rosé with a French twist,” McKenna told Society Insider.

“It’s well balanced, elegant, crisp and dry. I wanted to call it ‘Sarisa’ as an engagement surprise, so that’s what I did, and the label has the entwined S and N design we used on our invitation.”

McKenna plans to start producing the Sarisa in volume next year.

The couple took to the steps of the Terrace Bar later in the evening, where Nasinprom looked adoringly at her husband-to-be, but was too shy to make a speech. Instead, McKenna gave guests a lovely history of their relationship and love.

“I was so happy to see so many of the people I care about come together to help Nigel and me celebrate our engagement,” says Nasinprom. “It was a once-in-a-lifetime occasion and I felt very honoured and privileged to have such good friends, support we can count on and the love, health and good fortune we share.”

Manpreet and Teghbir Singh, and Sofie Pannu. Photo / Paul Menezes

She tells Society Insider the Thailand wedding will take place over several days and in several locations. To open the festivities, McKenna and Nasinprom will host a pre-wedding reception for 80 guests above Chiang Mai, at a rooftop bar in a surprise location. The ceremony and reception will follow the next day, and celebrations will close with a post-wedding brunch by the river.

Guests will include members of McKenna’s family from Ireland and England, Nasinprom’s Thai family, as well as the American family she lived with as an exchange student.

The bridal party will include Sarisa’s best and closest friends from the UK, US, Europe and Thailand.

Amid the wedding preparations, Nasinprom is also busy with her luxury wellness business. Sa-Ni has just won three awards at the 2025 World Luxury Spa Awards, and she has two new wellness projects in the pipeline. Both will be in new Templeton Group developments in Warkworth, north of Auckland, and Waikerikeri Station in Central Otago.

Luxury boat-building company goes into liquidation, founders optimistic about future

Amos and Kelvin Kay made custom New Zealand boats at K2 Marine.

Boating entrepreneur father-and-son duo Amos and Kelvin Kay have placed their Glendene-based business, K2 Marine Ltd, into voluntary receivership.

The move was announced by insolvency practitioner Grant Reynolds of Reynolds & Associates. The seven-year-old boat-building business owes nearly $2 million to secured and unsecured creditors, which includes more than $1.2m owed to its own shareholders, the Kays.

With some information still pending, Reynolds tells Society Insider it is very early on in the liquidation to specify any estimated shortfall to creditors, and he is working with the Kays to help things go as smoothly as possible.

K2 Marine had two luxury large-boat offerings, the Wright Catamaran 52 Powercat and the Wright 52 Catamaran Sedan, with prices starting from $1.5m-$2m.

The K2 Marine Wright 52 Catamaran Sedan. Photo / K2Marine.co.nz The galley of the Catamaran Sedan. Photo / K2Marine.co.nz

Amos Kay, 32, who is a reservist for the New Zealand Defence Force, tells Society Insider he and his father had a dream to build a custom-made boat business in New Zealand.

“[Our] dream was to bring a semi-custom powercat to the market that was more suited to the way we do boating in this part of the world,” Kay tells Society Insider.

“Our boats were completely different from the boats coming out of Asia and Europe, which have dominated the market.”

Kay explains that he and his father made the difficult decision to enter into voluntary liquidation following a sustained period of financial pressure caused by a combination of external economic factors and industry-specific challenges.

He says the New Zealand economy has experienced a significant downturn in the past 24 months, with the marine sector being particularly affected by reduced consumer spending, rising financing costs and a decline in discretionary asset purchases, such as boats.

Amos Kay is a reservist for the NZDF Army.

Kay tells Society Insider he is proud that K2 Marine sold six of the big boats their company built and many smaller custom boats, too.

Kay explains that K2 Marine faced a sharp increase in costs from subcontractors, suppliers and creditors.

“This placed substantial strain on existing fixed-price contracts,” he says. “Despite these challenges, K2 Marine sought to maintain employment for its skilled workforce rather than undertake redundancies during a period when job opportunities in the sector were scarce.”

Many other marine companies faced turbulent conditions in recent years, amid a challenging economic climate. In September last year, family businesses Sportcraft Marine in the Bay of Plenty and Sportcraft Boats in Morrinsville went into liquidation, together owing $1.5m in unpaid taxes and loans.

Harkin Boat Building in Pine Harbour also went into liquidation at the end of last year.

While they work through their liquidation responsibilities, the Kays have registered a new business, Wright Catamarans Australasia Ltd.

Kay says he and his father intend to look to contract and support other New Zealand marine businesses for all future sales and maintain a strong relationship with the network they have created.

Amos Kay.

Kay’s social circle includes multimillionaire property movers and shakers, including Matthew Horncastle of Williams Corporation and Lighthouse Financial founder and managing director, Matthew Harris. The trio celebrated New Year’s Eve together on a superyacht on Sydney Harbour.

Harris and Horncastle say Kay is one of the hardest-working people they know.

“I admire Amos for keeping staff on for as long as he did, and for going into voluntary liquidation; it was the prudent thing to do,” says Harris.

Horncastle says we need more people like Kay creating businesses, dreaming big and manufacturing in New Zealand.

“I have absolute faith Amos will come back from this, learning and doing it better,” says Horncastle.

Just weeks before his business went into receivership, Kay was in Samoa, where he proposed to his girlfriend amd office manager, Olivia Hodder.

Kay and Olivia Hodder were engaged in Samoa last month.

Very aware of the optics of taking a holiday so close to going into liquidation, Kay tells Society Insider the trip was gifted by family, not paid for by him, and he is humbly grateful to those who paid for it.

“Liv and I have dated for eight years, and she has been by my side right throughout the ups and downs,” says Amos.

Samoa holds a special connection for the couple – they first met on a return flight from the Pacific island in 2013 and started dating several years later. Kay says they are both optimistic and excited about their future, and he is excited to marry Hodder.

The couple’s engagement on the Samoan beach.

Party People of the Week

Hera Couture Celebration

Bridal brand Hera Couture celebrated its 15th anniversary last Thursday, with a stylish soiree at The Hotel Britomart.

More than 70 guests gathered to toast founder and creative director Katie Yeung and her brand’s journey, from a boutique Auckland atelier to showcasing her creations internationally.

MC Kirstie Stanway, a former Hera bride herself, hosted the evening, which featured a stunning runway of archive and best-selling gowns, alongside a preview of the latest collection fresh from New York Bridal Fashion Week.

Among the guests were Together Journal editor Greta Kenyon, fashion designers Murray Crane and Adrian Hailwood, Zoë Williams of Zoë & Morgan, and past Hera brides including broadcaster Mava Moayyed, Gert Boult and actors Antonia Prebble and Holly Shervey. Also in attendance were Daisy Clementine Smith and Amelia Ferrier.

Mava Moayyed and Antonia Prebble at the Hera Couture 15th birthday celebration at The Hotel Britomart. Photo / Doolee Studios Katie Yeung and Adrian Hailwood. Photo / Doolee Studios Emmett Skilton and Holly Shervey. Photo / Doolee StudiosGreta Kenyon and Gert Boult. Photo / Doolee Studios Daisy Clementine Hulme, Jo Mickelborough, Chanelle Aldridge, Katie Yeung and Juliette Perkins. Photo / Doolee Studios Lizzie Langridge, Danielle Falconer, Kelly Karam, Hannah Elizabeth and Rosie Callen. Photo / Doolee Studios Jess Thompson and Aisne Hardy. Photo / Doolee Studios Matt Hinton, Bernard Leung, Nasir Ali and Murray Crane. Photo / Doolee Studios Kirstie Stanway, Katie Yeung, Cliff Kurniawan and Matt Hinton. Photo / Doolee Studios

The Countdown to SailGP

Media and influencers joined Black Foils co-CEO and wing trimmer Blair Tuke and flight controller Leo Takahashi to celebrate 100 days until the ITM New Zealand Sail Grand Prix in Auckland.

The celebrations were held at Parasol and Swing on Auckland’s Viaduct last Thursday, overlooking the SailGP course, where fans will gather in February.

Olympian Anna Willcox MC’d the proceedings and revealed that the 2025 spectator grandstand will increase by 30% for the 2026 event.

The first Auckland event made waves earlier this year, with spectators filling grandstands, balconies and waterfront areas to cheer on international teams and the homegrown Black Foils.

Guests in attendance included Tātaki Auckland Unlimited chairwoman Vicki Salmon, ZM’s Clint Roberts and Flava’s Azura Lane, as well as celebrity business owner Kennedy Anderson, newsreader Imogen Wells and influencers Zoe Kerr, Lucy Sharp and Elise Maric.

Blair Tuke and Leo Takahashi at the 100-day countdown until SailGP at Parasol and Swing. Photo / Black on Black Lily Nathan, Zoe Kerr and Sophie Grayson. Photo / Black on Black Matthew Jacobi and Elise Maric. Photo / Black on Black Samantha Poole and Jacqueline Jiang. Photo / Black on Black Oliver Tyack and Kennedy Anderson. Photo / Black on Black Sean Hill and Jeannie Grace. Photo / Black on Black Jason Doherty and Fiona Woolley. Photo / Black on Black Michael Hayton and Vicky Salmon. Photo / Black on Black Greg Blackwell, Jacquie Elliot and Chris Booth. Photo / Black on Black Ella Sidney and Azura Lane. Photo / Black on Black Samantha Stretton and Lucy Sharp. Photo / Black on Black Rory Gleeson and Angus McDougall. Photo / Black on Black

Ricardo Simich has been with the Herald since 2008 where he contributed to The Business Insider. In 2012 he took over Spy at the Herald on Sunday, which has since evolved into Society Insider. The weekly column gives a glimpse into the worlds of the rich and famous.