An Invercargill man leant across his fiancee to protect her as a truck and trailer carrying cattle hurtled towards them on State Highway 1 north of Balclutha on Friday night.
Ken Legg and Jan McDonald, of Invercargill, were driving to Timaru to collect her wedding dress for their nuptials in three weeks' time.
Mr Legg said he noticed the south-bound truck's rear trailer lifting up at the front before it spun round and toppled on to its side.
"We had nowhere to go."
Before their car rammed into the middle of the flipped trailer's roof, Mr Legg leant across Miss McDonald to protect her.
One of the trailer's grates went through their windscreen, he said.
"The impact was like being hit by a train."
After hearing an "amazing boom", he blacked out.
When he came to, cattle were wandering on the road.
He received back strain and whiplash injuries, while Miss McDonald received ligament damage to her left foot and a sprained right foot with a possible bone chip.
She would be wearing a cast on her left foot on her wedding day.
The accident "didn't help the wedding plans", as the couple had to "dip into" their wedding fund to pay for accommodation while in Dunedin and for the hire of a rental vehicle.
They were grateful to be alive.
The police serious crash unit and the police commercial vehicle investigation unit (CVIU) inspected the scene.
CVIU officer Senior Constable Colin Thomas said his report would go to the Balclutha police who would decide if charges would be laid.
