( AFP )- A former Australian polo player dubbed the nation's "runaway groom" has finally tied the knot with his model girlfriend at the sixth attempt, a report said Sunday.
Michael Todd, 38, married his Dane Hedvig Mollin , 34, on Saturday in a surprise ceremony which he only told her about in the morning, Sydney's Sun-Herald said.
Friend James Kirby said he kept a taxi waiting amid fears right up to the last moment that the marriage might not go ahead.
"Just in case," Kirby told the newspaper. "You never know with Mike."
The ceremony at a yacht club in Sydney's elite Rushcutters Bay went off without a hitch, however, with friends and family from as far away as Denmark there to see it.
The bride, who was once the European face of Coca-Cola, said her husband needed "a little care and understanding".
Best man Charlie Fenton said his friend, who has been compared to Julia Roberts' character in the film 'Runaway Bride', was only scared of two things: marriages and commitments.
But Todd had no problem with engagements, he said, having had four previous fiancees . One woman had even been engaged to him twice.
"I remember at my wedding he asked one of the bridesmaids to marry him. Quite sensibly, she told him to get lost," Fenton said.
Asked what made Todd finally tie the knot, Fenton replied: "Well I would have killed him if he didn't this time. Plus Hedvig's father Klaus is six-foot-two (1.88 metres ) and a very mean looking man."