Posted Date: September 25, 2008

It was a marriage to keep in mind...

The driver of the limousine, carrying the groom Brian Ashton, his mother and the best man, lost control of the car just yards from the church after the brakes failed and hit into a van and a brick wall.

The collide caused the groom's mother to have a heart attack and left Mr Ashton, 47, in pain with back and leg injuries.

Moments later bride Sarah Ward, 27, arrived on the sight and was stunned by the view that greeted her.

The limousine was hit against a fence and despite seeing his mother Maureen, 78, stretchered to hospital by paramedics; Brian and wife-to-be Sarah decided to press on with the service so as not to dishearten guests.

Now the ill-fated couple still doesn’t know if they'll go ahead with their honeymoon in Spain.

Witnesses told how they saw the car pick up momentum as they traveled down a sheer hill to the church before the driver swerved into a side road, crashing into a council work van and then into a wall near Middleton Methodist Church, in Middleton, Rochdale, Greater Manchester.

Sarah said: ‘I couldn't accept as true what I was seeing. Everyone was there for the marriage, so we couldn't call off it, but we were concerned about my mother-in-law and Brian stood through the service in ache.

‘His siblings left straight after to go to the hospital and had to miss the party. It wasn’t the same without her there.’

Mrs Ashton was carried by ambulance to North Manchester General Hospital, where she was improving over the weekend.

The newlywed couple; who have a four-year-old son, Jack, were due to leave for their honeymoon, but may abandon the trip to help care for Mrs Ashton if her situation does not get better.

Wedding photographer Ian Howarth saw the mishap from outside the church.

He said: ‘We heard this enormous skid, a crash, then another crash. It looked like the brakes had failed.

'The driver said he was pumping them, but not anything happened. The car was picking up speed as it was going down the road, so it was going fairly fast by the time it hit.

'I thought they would call the wedding off, however with all the time and funds invested in it, they decided to go ahead.

Sarah added: ‘I had something old, something new, something rented and something blue - but it obviously didn’t work. The collapse disfigured the day and my husband's still in a lot of pain.

'He can't bow down because of injuries to his back and left leg, and his arm is black with damages. It could've been worse as my mother, child and bridesmaids were due to be picked up in the same car, so I presume we're lucky in that way.'

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police confirmed: ‘Officers were called to Long Street following reports of a crash between a marriage car and a van. A 78-year-old lady was taken to hospital after suffering upper body pains.’