Bride Masters Samoan Dance in Just 5 Days to Honor Husband’s Family at Wedding: ‘I Wanted to Make Them Proud’ (Exclusive)

When Madi decided to learn a traditional Samoan dance just five days before her wedding, she didn’t expect the world to be watching. But a TikTok video capturing her journey — complete with hotel-room rehearsals and joyful nerves — quickly touched millions. 

“I always knew deep down that I wanted to do it, even early on in our relationship,” Madi exclusively tells PEOPLE, remembering the moment the idea took hold. 

Inspired by videos she’d seen of brides embracing Samoan traditions, she felt a quiet pull to do the same for her future husband, Samu, and the family she was about to join.

Their love story began years earlier at the University of Utah, where Madi played softball and Samu was on the football team. They met through a campus ministry group and bonded over faith, friendship and eventually, something more.

“Some of our friends started putting the bug in our ear about how we would be a cute couple,” Samu tells PEOPLE with a grin. That playful encouragement turned into a connection that grew steadily over time.

Their first date, complete with matching knee injuries, still makes them laugh. “He did not want to reschedule. He was very adamant about making sure it happened,” Madi recalls, remembering how they hobbled into an arcade together; she was on crutches, he was fresh out of surgery.

Four years later, after countless FaceTime calls and long-distance stretches while Madi worked as a nurse, Samu proposed by a lake with the help of his family. “I’ve waited my whole life for her,” he says.

Wedding planning brought excitement and emotion, but also a surprise challenge Madi didn’t see coming. “The five days thing wasn’t ideal,” she says, laughing.

Originally, she tried to teach herself a dance from YouTube, unsure what would resonate. “Then he said his cousin was going to choreograph a dance,” she explains.

But when that choreography finally arrived, Madi was in Georgia for a funeral, practicing alone in her hotel room and sending videos back to Samu’s sisters for feedback. “There’s no way I’m going to know if I’m doing this right,” she remembers thinking, unsure but determined.

The pressure didn’t let up as the wedding approached. “The odds were really kind of stacked,” Samu says, noting that even his mom, who’d planned to help, had to leave town unexpectedly. Still, his sisters stepped in, squeezing in a last-minute rehearsal just two days before the ceremony. “It was a family effort for sure,” Samu adds. “Everybody pitched in.”

By the time the moment arrived, Madi had barely caught her breath from the whirlwind of the week but she stepped onto the dance floor with everything she had. “I felt all of the emotions,” she shares. “The biggest thing I wanted to do was make them proud and also show them that I really value their culture.”

For Samu, the moment landed like a dream. “There’s just this sense of awe,” he says. “I always dreamed about my wife doing [the dance] … and to see her step in and accept it in that way was so powerful and beautiful to me at that moment.”

He saw something deeper than choreography. “In marriage, you’re saying yes to this person, but not just to everything — also to the culture,” Samu explains. “It was such a beautiful thing.”

The experience also deepened his own connection to his Samoan roots. “It definitely helped me, encouraged me to learn more, but also just rekindled this love that I have for where I come from,” he says.

Madi, too, walked away transformed. “Before, the way that I viewed his culture was, I thought it was cool,” she says. “But now after learning it and seeing the love that his family has for the culture, I think it’s made me appreciate it more.”

“Now I would describe it as beautiful,” she continues. “I think doing the dance, seeing their reaction, it’s made me not only love him more, but his family more.”

There were bumps along the way — moments where the blending of two cultures felt overwhelming. “At first we had a conversation where there were other aspects of the Samoan culture that were kind of creeping into the wedding and that weren’t necessarily planned,” Samu shares.

But the couple chose to approach it all with grace and patience, staying grounded in communication. “We had to just talk through how we felt,” Madi says.

That patience was tested again during the wedding itself, when Madi was pulled into a third unexpected dance by Samu’s aunts. “I was already overwhelmed ‘cause I’d just finished the dance,” she remembers. “But then a lot of his aunts were getting me ready. I was so confused.”

Samu quickly stepped in to reassure her. “He was understanding, he was like, ‘Just do what you were doing in your dance,’ ” Madi says. “And then I think seeing him dance, it made me happy again.”

Madi’s family heritage wasn’t left behind, either. “In the Filipino culture, we also do a money dance,” she says. “A lot of my uncles wore a traditional Filipino shirt as their formal attire. I feel like that was welcomed pretty well.”

The TikTok, which began as a way to share her personal journey, soon turned into something much bigger. “I think the most common thing that I saw was people being like, they were able to see when two people get married, they see true love in action when the spouse is willing to learn things of their culture,” Madi says.

The comments from Samoan viewers in particular meant the world to her. “There were a few Samoans that commented and they’re like, ‘You did great. We appreciate you sharing our culture.’ And it’s really cool to see,” she says.

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Samu, who doesn’t use TikTok himself, was stunned by the wave of encouragement. “It was just cool to see the positive side of social media, people rallying around this idea of two people coming together, loving one another and representing a culture and representing it well,” he tells PEOPLE.

Through it all, the couple say their love only deepened. “There was a lot of patience, kindness, graciousness, compassion toward one another in that time,” Samu says. “To have her come in and basically embrace my family, my culture, us with open arms was so amazing.”

The day was also grounded in their shared faith, with a communion ceremony and worship led by close friends. “We attest our relationship and everything that we have to God,” Samu says. “We wouldn’t be here without Him.”

As the views keep climbing and the comments pour in, Madi and Samu are still soaking in the impact of it all. “We learned that it’s okay to feel overwhelmed,” Madi says. “But what matters is walking through it together, giving each other grace and embracing the beauty of both our backgrounds.”