WEDDING IN THE DESERT.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 260, 1 November 1915, Page 7

WEDDING IN THE DESERT.

( ATTAIN HI.ARK'S MARRIAGE. K..r the first time in the history ol \e-.v Zealand a wedding has been celebrate! in the line, while her troops have been nn active service. On August' 2D last ( aptain Thomas Arnold Blake, veterinary officer to the Auckland Mounted Rifles, wan joined in bonds oi wedlock to Miss Mabel ( .instance Doane, ~f t.ioueo-srorshiro, who arrived from Kn- r '!and on August -hi. 'Hie wedding vvn« nf v purely military nature, the ,-Inn. ;i being a marquee and the altar a liuv covered with the I'nion -lack. Wit,:, the Main Holy at the Darda nolle*, life in die erstwhile gay Zeitun ('amp. where the -wedding wag Celebrated, is rather dull, but with such an opportunity as a wedding. Lieut.-Col. Mackesv and the officers of the remnants of the brigade determined tonn-ko .. Hii-cess of it, and their efforts were amply rewarded. Tho ceremony took place at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and, ■being a military fum-tion, everything vv-iiH UP to time. The bride waa attended liv Sinter Dixon, of the Kngliffh Reserve of Nurgca, and the bridegroom was supported by Major Edgar, of, the Sew Zealand Veterinary Corps, ofl best man. After the short ceremony the happy couple panHfl out under an arch t,f swords to thn strains of Mondclsgohn'a "Wedding March," rendered by the Auckland Mounted Rifles Military Band. The breakfast wan held in a double marquee creeled for the occasion, and a long lint of toasts -was gone through. The farrier stalT of the Auckland Mounted Rifles presented tho married pair with a very handsome table-covor of Egyptian workmanship, wibh tho regimental creat worked in the centre. The officers of the brigade gave thorn a magnificent afternoon tea-table top, rompriiing Egyptian work, which will serve to remind them of their unique j •wedding on ibe sandy desert of Zcitun.