Bride-to-be Fulfills Promise Given To Late Fiancé

By Lan KB

Don’t let the smile on Intan Syari’s face in this wedding photo fool you for it is not a smile of joy but one forced upon herself.

Intan is a woman in grief. She has lost her fiancé who died in Lion Air crash in Indonesia on October 29.

Intan and Dr Rio Nanda Pratama, both 26, had planned to get married on Nov 11, but he never returned. But she still had a promise which she had made to Rio Nanda, and she wanted to keep it.

So on what was to be their wedding day, Intan stood wearing her bridal gown and forced a smile for the camera.

The Indonesian woman had promised her betrothed that she would take photos in her wedding gown and send them to him if he was late returning, reported AP.

Rio Nanda was among the 189 people who were killed when Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the sea, shortly after taking off from Jakarta. Rio Nanda had attended a seminar in Jakarta and was on his way home to Pangkal Pinang for the wedding.

Intan said she wanted to honour Rio Nanda’s final request, even though at the time it had been made in jest.

“We were just joking at that time. He asked me to still wear my wedding gown that he chose for me on our wedding day, put on beautiful make-up and hold a white rose bouquet, take good photos and send them to him.”

And so she did just that. She went ahead and took the photos in her white wedding gown with a white satin head covering, holding a white rose bouquet in her hand, surrounded by relatives and friends.

“Although I actually feel grief that I cannot describe, I have to smile for you,” Intan wrote on Instagram. “I should not be sad, I have to stay strong as you always say to me, I love you, Rio Nanda Pratama.”