INTERESTING WEDDING.

Waikato Times, Volume 105, Issue 17611, 16 January 1929, Page 5

INTERESTING WEDDING.

LADY MARY ASHLEY COOPER MARRIES. LONDON, November 30. There have been many fashionable weddings which have caused a good deal of excitement. The most important of these w»as the marriage of Lady Mary Ashley Cooper, the daughter of the Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury to young Lord Alington. One of the most interesting features of the magnificent array of presents which numbered over a thousand was the revival of rubies as fashionable stones, rubies figuring largely among the jewels; and the second was the fact that besides the conventional gifts of furniture, objects of bijouterie and vertu and lovely furs, two animals figured on the list —a hunter and a pet monkey; for the former a friend provided a saddle, but there were no fitments for the monkey.

As to the rubies, the King and Queen sent the bride a lovely pendant with the Royal cypher surrounded by a crown studded with rubies and sapphires. The bridegroom gave a gorgeous cabochon ruby and diamond three-row necklace, a. ruby and diamond ring, and bracelet to match, and quite a number of other jewels showed the ruby restored to a place of honour. For a number of years the emerald and the sapphire have had it all their own w r ay, and for those who love the glow of a ruby the fashion for them is a delightful change. The records for other than royal brides were broken in the matter of crowds, and outside St. Margaret s, which now is the church par excellence for fashionable weddings, women sightseers arrived hours before the ceremony, with ‘portable seats and soap-boxes, and the police had a very difficult time keeping them in check. Lord Shaftesbury, the bride s father, is Lord Steward to the King, and Lady Shaftesbury a lady of the Bedchamber, and were it not that the King was ill at the time, both their Majesties would have been present. Prince and Princess Arthur of Connaught and Lady Maud Carnegie were the representatives of the Royal Fam*The clothes were lovely; the tall bride w T ore a gown of silver and white net; it was sewn with silver and embroidered in silver lilies, and on her tulle veil was a coronet of silver lace and pearls. Her bouquet was a sheaf of Madonna lilies, and there were lilies arranged at intervals down the aisle and massed at the altar. Her bridal retinue consisted of all the bestknown and loveliest girls of her set, and alt of them were in white tulle picture frocks, powdered in gold. It was a really bridal procession, and without the air of fancy dress that some brides aim at on these occasions. Fearing the bride might be hungry two of the ushers left a big box of chocolates tied with blue ribbon in her motor! But she bore up until she reached the Marcfeiftness of Londonderry's house, where the reception was held.