BRIDE-TO-BE Zoe Dixon should be making wedding plans, but is instead arranging a funeral for the man who was the love of her life.

Her fiance, Ian Steele, died instantly in a car crash while the couple were driving through North Yorkshire on their way to starting a new life in Sussex.

Miss Dixon, who lived with her partner in Stanley, County Dur-ham, escaped the wreckage with broken bones, cuts and bruises.

She said: "I do not know what I am going to do now. Ian was my best friend. I loved everything about him -he was thoughtful, kind, loving, funny, mischievous and he had a certain air of innocence, which was special."

The couple met when they were both 21 on holiday in Majorca, but Miss Dixon lived in Crawley, Sussex, and Mr Steele in the North-East, and their long-distance romance fizzled out when they returned home.

But eight years later, on a friend's hen night, Miss Dixon travelled to Newcastle and, after she called Ian, they met again and their love was rekindled.

They planned to marry in September, have children and move to Crawley to be near Miss Dixon's family.

Mr Steele, 30, was preparing to sell his house and the couple put a downpayment on a house in Sussex, where they had both found jobs. But on Friday, April 28, on the A1 in North Yorkshire, their joy turned to sorrow.

Miss Dixon, 30, said: "It all happened so quick. I looked across at him one minute and the next we had hit the central reservation, spun off the road and into a tree.

"I knew that was it for Ian. I just received a broken rib, a cracked pelvis, cuts and bruises. I cannot really talk about the accident.

"We had our lives ahead of us and everything planned; we planned to start a family. I am lost without Ian. We did everything together. He was my best friend."

The funeral of motorbike enthusiast Mr Steele, whose pride and joy was a Yamaha R1 performance bike, will be held at Sunderland Crematorium.

His coffin will have a motorbike escort as his fiancee, family and friends say their goodbyes.