UNUSUAL WEDDING.

Colonist, Volume XLIX, Issue 11875, 4 March 1907, Page 4

UNUSUAL WEDDING.

Miss Gertrude May t)erbritige. who •was married at Bondi, New South Wales, to Mr Archie Victor Donohue, bad the largest weddingih the history of Australian matrimony, and perhaps the largest in the world, outside the ranks of royalty. Yet Miss Derbridge was only a dressmaker, and Mr Donohue was ohiy a grocer. How did they manage ft? I Well the weddibg s: tbok placfe in Wonderland City at Bondi, and the rush to see it was so great that the attendance at this place of amusement was a r»jcord.- What induced the young couple to choose this method of entering married life is not stated, but it ."may.be guessed. Thej' were, however, perfectly happy, and that is the main point. The "guests" were bidden for nine in the evening, and some came early and brought their own tea. The bride and brid?groom were taken out by motor-car, and married in the presence of their friends, a few Prass representatives, and members of the managerial staff of Wonderland City. Outside, thirty thousand people waited patiently. When the ceremony was over, the couple, gorgeously apparelled in Eastern costume, climbed on the back of a huge Indian elephant, and in that exalted position proceeded through the crowd9d streets, under festoons of, many-colored lights, bowing and smiling their acknowledgments of the cheers and congratulations of the multitude, who crowded forward to get a close view of the bride. It was always the bride;- the bridegroom was simply— the bridegroom. "And such a procession ! First a brass band, gorgeously arrayed, playing the 'Wedding March'; then a squad of pretty little children scattering confetti and flowers in the path of the bride ; next the heavy, unconcerned elephant, with its precious freight, guided and escorted by swarthy Ethiopians (of Australian birth and origin, but painted and dressed for the occasion), waving aloft large wands of palms; and then a bevy of pretty girls in Eas tern costume, scattering far and wide more multi-colored confetti." A photograph having been taken of the scene, the party returned to the theatre, whore Mr and Mrs Donohue were formally introduced to a large audience.