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Bride collapses and dies during first dance at her own wedding
36-year-old Kim Sjostrom crumples in her new husband's arms
- AP
- Published: 20:54 February 10, 2008
- Holding the tiara his wife, Kim Sjostrom, wore on their wedding night, Teddy Efkarpides, 43, is still grieving.
- Image Credit: AP
Davie, Florida: Kim Sjostrom wanted a real-life version of the film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which played in the background as friends fixed her hair and makeup before her own marriage ceremony.
But less than an hour after she and Teddy Efkarpides were wed, Sjostrom crumpled in her husband's arms during a Greek song that means "Love Me."
At 36, Sjostrom was dead from heart disease.
The wedding had became a project at Davie Elementary School, where Sjostrom taught first grade. Fellow teachers provided the wedding gown, the flowers and decorations. One of them, an ordained minister, performed the ceremony. "It was perfect for her," said Dominic Church, the minister friend.
Sjostrom carried blue and white flowers during the ceremony as she exchanged vows with Efkarpides, a 43-year-old carpenter and Navy veteran. They had met three years to the day before the January 19 wedding.
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