She was buried in her wedding dress upon her death, before she could marry her boyfriend of 8 years

The venue was set and the wedding dress was picked out. Everything was finally coming together to give Jessica Morrell the dream wedding she had pictured. But just a week after she collected her beautiful dress, Jessica’s family sadly had to attend her wake at the same venue where she had planned to tie the knot.

On June 1, Jessica passed away at home after suffering a cardiac arrest. At the time, her mother and boyfriend were with her, but despite them giving her CPR, she did not survive.

Her sudden death came just months before she was to wed her boyfriend of eight years on September 3, according to Mirror.

As they bid farewell to the 32-year-old woman who “lived life to the full,” her family decided to bury Jessica in her wedding dress. They also attended her wake at the 315 Bar and Restaurant in Lepton, Huddersfield, where Jessica and her boyfriend were supposed to exchange wedding vows.

“She was so excited about the wedding,” Jessica’s mother, Olga, told Yorkshire Live. “She was nervous but excited. She really knew what she wanted. It is all she dreamed of. She had been going out with her boyfriend for eight years.”

“We buried Jessica in her wedding dress,” Olga added.

About 75 people attended the wake. And many who knew Jessica spoke to the family to express how Jessica left a mark on them. “Teachers have been in touch and have sent cards and said what a wonderful, caring girl she was,” Olga shared.

The bereaved mother described her beloved daughter as someone who loved to socialize and interact with people. She was a “larger than life character” and loved collecting perfumes and handbags. “She had many friends from all walks of life,” Olga went on to say. “She spent a lot of time with friends and doing voluntary work with elderly people at Huddersfield Town Hall where they loved her.”

Devastated by her child’s sudden death, Olga shared, “She was a lovely daughter. From the moment she was born, my life changed. Everything was 100mph. She was a force of nature. She was so full of life and lived life to the full. She had a lot of confidence and everybody loved her.”

Jessica’s friend Sharryl Hardcastle also spoke about her and said, “She was lovely. She was very bubbly and she loved her perfumes. She used to text me all the time, asking me if I had bought any new perfumes and if I would post her a picture. She loved going to the Town Hall on a Tuesday, before lockdown, to a group for the elderly where she met lots of people and looked after them.”

Jessica’s mother also mentioned that her late daughter had about 50 perfumes and an almost equal number of handbags. There are still some perfumes that are unopened from Jessica’s collection, and Olga is now planning to donate them to charity.