JUST over a fortnight after celebrating John and Lynette Rodgers's wedding, family and friends returned to the same church to say a final farewell to the "beautiful couple" who "always will be over the rainbow".
Two hearses stood side-by-side outside First Presbyterian Church in Holywood, Co Down from 10am yesterday, when the couple's remains were taken back into the building they had so recently left full of hopes and joy.
At the wedding, Mrs Rodgers had promised an organiser of the church's Girls' Brigade that "after her honeymoon she would come back as a leader".
By the time the service began at11.30am, so many people had come to pay their respects that the church on the hill was full and dozens of mourners had to stand outside.
Among them were the 160 wedding guests who had last gathered together on October 17.
Also attending were a couple who had travelled from Co Meath. They had lost a brother and wife in similar circumstances in Corfu in 1979 and wanted to show their support.
Mr and Mrs Rodgers drowned after getting caught in strong currents while swimming on Plettenberg Bay at the beginning of their South African honeymoon, just six days after walking down the aisle.
Each casket yesterday bore identical floral wreaths, with a beret placed on that of Mr Rodgers in tribute to his long service in British army reserve regiment the Scottish & North Irish Yeomanry, in which he had gained the rank of corporal.
Commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel James Campbell-Barnard said the regiment had lost "a good friend and an excellent soldier".
Sixty-five soldiers were in attendance, with 15 members attending in uniform to act as pall bearers for Mr Rodgers at the cemetery afterwards, where the couple were buried side-by-side in a double grave.
The service was taken jointly by minister Rev Noble McNeely - who married the couple - and Rev Timothy Close, regimental padre.
Rev McNeely said the families had been stunned by the numbers who attended the funeral.
"For some of us we are standing or sitting in the exact same locations, but it all seems so surreal, we can't comprehend it and take in that the focus of our day is John and Lynette but they are not with us as before," he said.
"We are here especially to celebrate what we knew of two young vibrant and beautiful people and to particularly to convey our heartfelt sympathy to those who loved them most, principally John's parents, Billy and Johann, and Lynette’s mother, Eva, their respective sisters and brother, Gwen, Kathryn and Graham."
He said the memory of the couple on that day would live on with all who shared it with them.
"On the 17 October there were special memories formed in this church when we heard them make their vows to each other eloquently and honestly with the greatest aspiration that they would share their marriage together until, as they said in their vows, at death they were parted.
"The whole day was a truly lovely celebration as the meal and festivities were enjoyed in Ballygally Castle. Most of us last saw Lynette and John at the reception and remember how they were so excited about their honeymoon in South Africa. They went away united in their love and dreams.
"...We have been devastated but they have been together and nothing has separated them even unto death as they promised."
A tribute from their families - written jointly by the couple's siblings - was read by close friend Lance Corporal Billy Mawhinney.
"The tragic events in South Africa have extinguished their bright flame too soon but we will never forget our daughter, son, sister, brother or friend. We set out to write a tribute, but there are no words to immortalise John and Lynette," he said.
"So share your stories, shed your tears, make their memories everyone's and remember what a beautiful couple they were and always will be over the rainbow.
"The families would like to thank everyone involved in bringing their loved ones home to rest, we are eternally grateful in the manner and speed in which affairs have been handled."
Mr Rodgers, a popular engineering graduate from Ballygowan who worked for an office equipment company in Belfast, was discovered in shallow surf on Robberg Beach by a local man at around 6pm on Friday October 23.
Mrs Rodgers (nee Reilly), an NHS physiotherapist from Holywood who friends described as kind and compassionate, was found about 200 yards away along the same beach.
