Heartbreaking story behind bride's wedding photo

The fiancee of a man who was killed in the Lion Air plane crash last month as he flying home to get married has posed for her wedding pictures alone after her husband-to-be joked she should wear her gown without him if he was late to their nuptials.

Intan Syari wore her white dress and wedding ring and smiled for the camera to fulfil the last wish of husband-to-be Rio Nanda Pratama.

The couple were due to get married on November 11, but Mr Pratama was among 189 people killed when Lion Air flight JT 610 crashed into the Java sea on October 29, shortly after taking off from Jakarta, Indonesia.

Posting the pictures on Instagram, Ms Syari wrote: “Even though I feel grief that I cannot describe, I still have to smile for you.”

“I cannot be sad but should be strong like you always told me to be.”

Medical doctor Mr Pratama had joked shortly before the flight that she should take the pictures and send them to him if he did not arrive at the wedding on time, according to the wedding photographer.

He reportedly told his bride-to-be: “If I don’t return by 11 November, you should still wear your wedding gown that I chose for you.”

“Wear beautiful make-up, ask for white roses. Take good photos and send them to me.”

The pair had known each other for 13 years, and Ms Syari described her betrothed, who was flying to the couple’s home town of Pangkai Pinang for the wedding, as her “first love”.

The exact cause of the flight has so far not been determined but Indonesian investigators said the airspeed indicator for Lion Air flight 610 malfunctioned during its last four flights, including the fatal flight on October 29.

All 189 people on board the flight were killed.