HOLLAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A native of the Holland, Mich., area collapsed and died at her wedding reception in California, the victim of a brain aneurysm.

Amy Lynn Slenk, 26, died on the day she married longtime boyfriend Cole Handley in a vineyard in Soledad.

The bride was enjoying “the happiest day of her life” on May 25 when she collapsed at the reception, said her mother, Diane Slenk of Ottawa County’s Holland Township.

“I know they were very excited about starting their lives together and starting a family,” the mother said Wednesday to The Holland Sentinel. “They were planning on doing so many things together.”

Following Amy Slenk’s death, a California neurosurgeon told her family that although she appeared healthy, she had a pre-existing aneurysm and “it could’ve erupted at any time,” her mother said.

Her daughter moved to the West Coast to pursue international studies and study Japanese at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Ore. Amy Slenk met her future husband there during their freshman year.

“They were immediate friends, and they stayed friends for a couple years before they realized it was love,” her mother said. “Cole was always so willing to take part in any of the crazy plans she had.”

After graduating from college, Slenk lived in San Diego before moving to Soledad, where she ran a wine-tasting room. The groom works at a golf course.

Although a funeral already was held in California, Slenk’s family is planning a private memorial service in the Holland area because she was fond of where she grew up, her mother said.

“She loved Michigan,” she said. “She always loved being near the water.”

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Information from: The Holland Sentinel