Ruth Maguire: Bride-to-be who drowned on hen weekend to be buried in wedding dress
Rachel Wilkinson pays tribute to her sister, describing her as a "beautiful person with everything to live for".
Wednesday 20 March 2019 21:40, UK
A bride-to-be who drowned on a hen weekend in the Republic of Ireland will be buried in her wedding dress.聽
Ruth Maguire, 30, was due to marry her partner of 12 years in August and had been out celebrating with friends in Carlingford, County Louth, on Saturday when she went missing.
The mother-of-three's body was discovered in the water at Carlingford Lough on Monday afternoon.
Her sister, Rachel Wilkinson, told the Belfast Telegraph she was a "beautiful person with everything to live for".
Ms Wilkinson was going to be a maid of honour at the wedding on 8 August and said the ceremony was already organised.
Instead, the family are arranging Ms Maguire's funeral at St Vincent de Paul Church in Belfast.
"It's so unexpected; you don't expect to bury your younger sister," Ms Wilkinson said.
She added: "We are going to let her wear her wedding dress in the coffin."
The last family member to speak to Ms Maguire was her fiance, James Griffin, who called her after she finished dinner.
He said that she had sounded happy and it did not seem like she had much to drink.
On the night of her death, the 30-year-old posted a short video on Instagram with no sound at 12.12am.
The footage showed a doorway to a small cottage across the road from the entrance to the pier, which led rescue teams to search the lough.
Ms Wilkinson said it "helped" that her sister's body was found, but added "the hardest part for all of us is that she's not here".
"The sister bond is so special... and I don't have a sister anymore."