Wedding-like send-off for Nakuru groom who died on eve of wedding

It was a rare send-off as a man who died in Baringo County on the eve of his wedding was laid to rest at his home in Subukia, Nakuru, Thursday. Burial rites for 28-year-old John Mwangi Macharia were conducted alongside the ‘wedding’ that was never to be.
On a day that he and his bride were probably supposed to on their honeymoon, Mwangi lay in a casket decked out in a red shirt and a black pair of trousers that he was to wear during the wedding. During the ceremony, his bride Irene Jepkemboi was called to cut the cake after Father John Migwi, who was supposed to preside over his wedding, finished delivering the sermon. Mwangi died last Friday in the company of a friend as he travelled to Kabarnet to pick his in-laws in readiness for the wedding the following day.

Their car plunged into Kirandich Dam, turning what was supposed to be a day of merry-making and cerebration into mourning. St Luke’s Church Meloreni in Subukia, where the deceased was to walk down the aisle with his sweetheart, was the venue of his funeral ceremony attended by a dozen Catholic priests.


Tears flowed freely as the hearse carrying his remains entered the church, with residents chatting in hushed tones, perhaps still trying to come to terms with the tragic event. “He was a friend and that’s why he chose me to preside over his wedding, but little did we know that it would end up like this,” Father Migwi, who now found himself cast in a completely different role, told the mourners. Migwi said the deceased died defending the marriage institution at a time it is under threat.
SOURCE: standard