Wedding party stuns mourners at crematorium

More than 100 people—many of them dressed in brightly coloured clothing—arrived at the cemetery in East Herringthorpe shortly after 5pm on Monday, to the bewilderment of those paying visits to the graves of friends and relatives.

Dignity Funerals, who operate the site, said that security guards were forced to bring an end to “singing, dancing and filming” after mourners found the gathering intrusive.

Many were also left with nowhere to park due to the presence of numerous large vehicles.

One visitor said: “We thought it might be a film crew making a movie or something.

The crematorium itself is shut at that time of the day so we knew it wasn’t a funeral.

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“It was such a startling sight. The cemetery is usually so quiet at that time of the day and to see all that colour and all those limousines was a real surprise.”

This week it emerged that the gathering at Rotherham Cemetery was actually part of an Asian wedding celebration.

Father of the bride, Mohammed Nazir (45), of Moorgate, said that it was never in his plans to take his daughter’s entire wedding party to the sombre location on her special day.

He said: “All we knew is that we wanted to go and pay our respects at my mother’s graveside.

“People normally go in twos or threes to pay their respects but we left it so late in the day that the wedding party had assembled and everybody decided that they wanted to go.”

Mr Nazir said that the visit, paid as those celebrations took a detour en route to the Holiday Inn, lasted no more than ten minutes and just ten people actually left the cars and visited his mother’s graveside.

He added: “There was no filming, singing or dancing. We wouldn’t do that. We went to pay our respects, it was a sad occasion.”

Dave Saynor, from 5th Avenue Limousines, said: “I’ve never been part of anything like it. It was a huge wedding. We provided nine limousines.

“The party were very respectful at the cemetery and when we were asked to park outside the cemetery grounds we did so straight away.”

Mr Nazir added: “The last thing we wanted to do was cause anyone any upset or inconvenience.”

A spokesman for Dignity Funerals said: “This group had made no prior arrangements to visit the cemetery so we were unaware of their intentions.

“The representative from the security company politely asked the group to stop singing, dancing and filming within the cemetery as other visitors found this intrusive.

“He also asked them to remove the limousines they had arrived in as these were blocking the driveways.

“Members of the group apologised and complied with his requests.

“We have received no complaints from other members of the public who were visiting the cemetery at this time but we would encourage everyone in the local community to respect the wishes and privacy of others that are visiting the grounds.”

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