Bride dies walking up the aisle

By ALISON HORWOOD

It was meant to be the most important day of Laney Whitchelo's life.

But as the 23-year-old bride-to-be walked down the aisle on her wedding day, she collapsed and died before reaching the waiting groom, Stephen Bull.

As the marriage celebrant tried unsuccessfully to revive the bride near the altar, the 100-strong congregation, who had gathered for the nuptials last weekend in St Andrews Presbyterian Church in Levin, erupted into pandemonium.

"It was like a bomb had gone off," said one onlooker.

An elderly relative suffered a suspected heart attack and was taken to hospital and the bridegroom was taken away and treated for shock.

The minister of St Andrews, the Rev Dr Bob Eyles, was called from his home 30 minutes after the bride collapsed.

"When I got there the bride was still lying on the carpet in her wedding gown. People were screaming and crying. It was an awful sight."

The police and Victim Support arrived to calm the congregation, but everyone was panicking, he said.

A family member told Dr Eyles that the music had started and the congregation was admiring Ms Whitchelo walking down the aisle when she "wobbled and collapsed."

When her body was finally taken from the church, the adorned wedding car she arrived in was still waiting outside.

The Levin coroner, Phil Comber, will investigate the cause of death but Ms Whitchelo was an epileptic.

Yesterday, most of the friends, family and workmates who had been at her fateful wedding were reunited for an emotionally charged funeral service at St Peters Anglican Church in Waipawa, Hawkes Bay.

A popular registered nurse with strong-held Christian beliefs, she grew up in Waipukurau but was living in Levin and working nearby at the Horowhenua Masonic Village.

Fighting back tears, Mr Bull, a petrol pump attendant, told mourners of how his long-held wish to marry his "best friend" had been cruelly taken away.

Although he never had the chance to kiss his bride and exchange rings, his mother had put his wedding band on the fourth finger of his right hand after Ms Whitchelo died.

"This morning, on the day of her funeral, I woke up and put the ring on my wedding finger, where it belongs."

At the funeral, Laney's sister, Kristy, sang a duet they had sung together as children.

"I was meant to sing it at Laney's wedding, but I never got the chance," she said. "Play with the angels, Laney."

A workmate at the retirement village described Ms Whitchelo as a rare and wonderful person who was adored by staff and residents.

He said that she had been brimming with excitement as she planned the finer details of her big day.