Wellington - A man whose bride was killed in a car crash while being driven home from their wedding reception said he should have been in the car with her, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Instead, Chinese immigrant Quiong Mao, 28, told the New Zealand Herald, he offered to drive home a guest who had too much to drink. It is a decision he said he would regret for the rest of his life.

His new wife, Yan Liu, suffered fatal head injuries Thursday night when the car she was travelling in hit a traffic island in the Auckland suburb of Mount Wellington after the wedding reception in a Chinese restaurant.

Mao broke down in tears as he told the paper, "I should have been in the same car with my wife, but the car already had four people so I said I would take another friend home first. I wish things could be different."

The pair were married in front of about 40 friends at the Beach Haven Anglican Church. The vicar, the Reverend Lorraine Lloyd, told the TV3 channel, "They were a really delightful young couple."

Mao said he arranged to meet his wife at their home after the reception and he tried to phone her when she was not there. When he finally got through to one of the wedding guests, he was told that his wife of barely a day had been killed. The driver of the car escaped with minor injuries but the two other passengers were in a serious condition in hospital.

"I was told my friends are in hospital, but why is it that it is my wife who lost her life?" Mao asked. Bin Li, a friend of the couple, who was a guest at their wedding dinner, said Mao was from Hunan and Liu, a childcare worker, from Xian. They met in New Zealand and dated for a year before deciding to get married.

Liu reportedly wanted a typical New Zealand wedding but the pair planned to return to China for a another wedding celebration, in front of their parents, next year. (dpa)