THE funeral of a popular journalist who died suddenly in his thirties a few days before his wedding will take place next week.

Former South Wales Argus news and sub editor Alex Kalinik passed away earlier this month.

He died a week before he was due to marry his partner Katy Jones at Llanerch Vineyard in the Vale of Glamorgan.

His family said: “Alex's funeral will be at the Cardiff and Vale Natural Burial Ground at 2pm on Tuesday 19th June. There will be a wake afterwards at Zero Degrees.

“We would like the funeral to reflect Alex, so we'd prefer it if nobody wears black.

“There will be some people wearing something Christmassy if you'd like to take that route, but no obligation.

“We request no flowers other than the family ones, but people are welcome to make donations to the British Heart Foundation or Marwell Zoo in Alex's memory.”

His fiancée Katy had earlier paid an emotional tribute to him.

She said: “When I first met Alex, I was struck by how genuine he was, by his wit, his warmth and massive capacity for both useful and useless facts. He took a real interest in pretty much everything and cared deeply for his family and friends.

“As our relationship progressed these attributes continued to impress me, along with his mastery of words, his incredible thoughtfulness and his cheesy jokes. He made me laugh so much.”

She added: “The thing about Alex I cherished the most was his infectious enthusiasm (he got ridiculously excited at Christmas time and would wear a Christmas jumper/shirt every day of December) and the incredible belief he had in others. He was one of a kind.

“On the 2nd June I lost my soulmate and it has broken my heart and the hearts of his family and friends.”

Born and bred in Basingstoke, Alex lived in Cardiff and was immensely proud of his Welsh heritage and was a big rugby and wrestling fan.

He followed Pontypridd, Cardiff Blues and the Wales team, travelling with his father to watch Sam Warburton's men reach the semi-finals of the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.

The Swansea University history graduate spent around 10 years at the Argus and its parent company Newsquest before leaving in 2016 to become head of press for the pro-EU Wales Stronger In Europe campaign and then an internal communications specialist for Tata Steel in Port Talbot.