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UK Wedding News

25/09/2013

Father Of The Bride Dies After Wedding Speech

A man died just hours after he walked his daughter down the aisle, the Daily Mail has reported.

Alan Bates, 65, had walked Charlotte Galbraith down the aisle as she married her new husband, Steve. Tragically just hours later, he collapsed during his pre-meal speech at the Craiglands Hotel in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.

He was taken to Airdale Hospital, but later died.

Mrs Galbraith, her husband and their two-year-old daughter, Annabelle, abandoned their wedding to be at the hospital.

Her father died in 2011 and Charlotte, who is now four months pregnant with her second child, said the ceremony is "all a bit of a blur".

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She added: "Everything was fine during the ceremony and the photos. We had drinks and canapes then we went in to sit down.

"He just stopped talking. He fell to the floor and there was just screaming and panicking. I got rushed out of the room by one of my best friends and was sitting in the foyer. I didn't know what was going on. I was just in stunned silence really."

Describing the events as "just devastating", she said her 'big day' slipped from her mind as she thought of her father.

"It just didn't seem that important. Obviously it would have been lovely to have had an evening do, but at the end of the day, the most important thing was my dad walked me down the aisle and saw us get married, and that we are married," she said.

Since Mr Bates' death, his daughter, son-in-law and other wedding guests – including the best man and two bridesmaids – have raised almost £1,800 to pay for a defibrillator.

They hope to install the machine at the training ground of Huddersfield Town FC in memory of Mr Bates, who was a keen supporter of the team.

(JP/CD)

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"A man died just hours after he walked his daughter down the aisle, the Daily Mail has reported."